Speaker Pelosi stimulus bill recession Rick Santorum Chris Dodd
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Ron Paul says he'll end Social Security & Medicare if Elected Pres.
Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) speaks with MSNBC host Cenk Uygur about why he voted against the Ryan budget and what programs he'd like to cut.Ron Paul Admits He's cut Social Security & Meidcare if elected President:04:42
�
Tropical Storm Gulf of Mexico jeremiah wright Castro illegal immigrant
From Rand Paul to Barbara Boxer: The Cliches of Campaign Debates
Round-Up of Senate, Governor Races in Colorado, Illinois, Ohio, Washington and Wisconsin14 days ago
barney franks obamacare socialized medicine socialism stem cell
Carl Paladino Plays Up Redneck Politics
Andrew Cuomo Has Double-Digit Lead Over Carl Paladino in N.Y. Governor Race11 days ago
Rush Limbaugh Hillary Clinton Tea Party Black Panthers Bristol Palin
Presidential Proclamation--Loyalty Day
Release Time:
For Immediate Release
When our Nation's Founders adopted the Declaration of Independence, they pledged to build a government that represented America's highest ideals, a Union that secured its people's sacred rights by "deriving [its] just powers from the consent of the governed." From the Revolutionary War to the formation of our young country, our Founders' commitment to this principle never wavered. In the fall of 1787, America launched its improbable experiment in democracy, embedding in our Constitution the core values of liberty, equality, and justice for all.
Throughout our proud history, Americans motivated by loyalty and fidelity to these principles have worked to perfect our Union. Our Constitution grants Americans unprecedented freedoms and opportunities. We are free to speak our minds, worship as we please, choose our leaders, and criticize them when we disagree. The liberties enshrined in our founding documents define us as a people and a Nation, ensuring that every American with the drive to work hard and play by the rules has the chance to build a better life for their children and grandchildren.
For over two centuries, Americans have looked with pride and devotion on a Nation that reflects its people's highest moral aspirations. On this day, we celebrate our brave men and women in uniform and honor those who gave their lives to keep our country safe and free. We also reflect on the contributions of patriotic civilians united by an understanding that citizenship is not just a collection of rights, but also a set of responsibilities.
The ideals upheld by our forebears have stirred the resolute devotion of the American people and inspired hope in the hearts of people from across the globe. With trust in a future that keeps faith with our history, we remain true to the promise of America and the spirit that unites us all.
In order to recognize the American spirit of loyalty and the sacrifices that so many have made for our Nation, the Congress, by Public Law 85-529 as amended, has designated May 1 of each year as "Loyalty Day." On this day, let us reaffirm our allegiance to the United States of America, our Constitution, and our founding values.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 1, 2011, as Loyalty Day. This Loyalty Day, I call upon all the people of the United States to join in support of this national observance, whether by displaying the flag of the United States or pledging allegiance to the Republic for which it stands.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand eleven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fifth.
BARACK OBAMA
For Immediate Release
When our Nation's Founders adopted the Declaration of Independence, they pledged to build a government that represented America's highest ideals, a Union that secured its people's sacred rights by "deriving [its] just powers from the consent of the governed." From the Revolutionary War to the formation of our young country, our Founders' commitment to this principle never wavered. In the fall of 1787, America launched its improbable experiment in democracy, embedding in our Constitution the core values of liberty, equality, and justice for all.
Throughout our proud history, Americans motivated by loyalty and fidelity to these principles have worked to perfect our Union. Our Constitution grants Americans unprecedented freedoms and opportunities. We are free to speak our minds, worship as we please, choose our leaders, and criticize them when we disagree. The liberties enshrined in our founding documents define us as a people and a Nation, ensuring that every American with the drive to work hard and play by the rules has the chance to build a better life for their children and grandchildren.
For over two centuries, Americans have looked with pride and devotion on a Nation that reflects its people's highest moral aspirations. On this day, we celebrate our brave men and women in uniform and honor those who gave their lives to keep our country safe and free. We also reflect on the contributions of patriotic civilians united by an understanding that citizenship is not just a collection of rights, but also a set of responsibilities.
The ideals upheld by our forebears have stirred the resolute devotion of the American people and inspired hope in the hearts of people from across the globe. With trust in a future that keeps faith with our history, we remain true to the promise of America and the spirit that unites us all.
In order to recognize the American spirit of loyalty and the sacrifices that so many have made for our Nation, the Congress, by Public Law 85-529 as amended, has designated May 1 of each year as "Loyalty Day." On this day, let us reaffirm our allegiance to the United States of America, our Constitution, and our founding values.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 1, 2011, as Loyalty Day. This Loyalty Day, I call upon all the people of the United States to join in support of this national observance, whether by displaying the flag of the United States or pledging allegiance to the Republic for which it stands.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand eleven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fifth.
BARACK OBAMA
racial controversy U.S. banks Charlie Rangel Arizona immigration
Carl Paladino Plays Up Redneck Politics
Andrew Cuomo Has Double-Digit Lead Over Carl Paladino in N.Y. Governor Race11 days ago
Friday, April 29, 2011
From Rand Paul to Barbara Boxer: The Cliches of Campaign Debates
Round-Up of Senate, Governor Races in Colorado, Illinois, Ohio, Washington and Wisconsin14 days ago
President Obama, Dr. Jill Biden to Honor Teachers of the Year
Release Time:
For Immediate Release
WASHINGTON, DC – On Tuesday, President Obama will honor the 2011 National Teacher of the Year and State Teachers of the Year, thanking them for their hard work and dedication each and every day in the classroom. The President believes that the education of our children is critical to our nation’s success as we compete in a 21st century global economy. We must make the investments in education and continue to inspire innovation, raise graduation rates, and ultimately out-educate our global competitors.
On Monday afternoon, Dr. Jill Biden, an educator of 30 years, will host a reception honoring the 2011 State Teachers of the Year at the Vice President’s Residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, DC. This is the third year in a row that Dr. Biden will host this group of accomplished teachers at the Naval Observatory. Portions of this event will be pooled press.
The National Teacher of the Year is chosen from among the State Teachers of the Year by a national selection committee representing the major national education organizations convened by the Council of Chief State School Officers.
Members of the media who would like to cover the Teacher of the Year ceremony must contact media_affairs@who.eop.gov before 12 PM ET Monday, May 2. Members of the media who do not have a White House hard pass must also submit their full name, date of birth, Social Security number, gender, country of birth, country of citizenship and current city and state of residence.
MONDAY, MAY 2
DR. JILL BIDEN will host a reception and deliver remarks honoring the 2011 National Teachers of the Year finalists
3:30 PM EDT
U.S. Naval Observatory
Portions of this event will be pooled press
TUESDAY, MAY 3
THE PRESIDENT will deliver remarks honoring the Teacher of the Year
11:25 AM EDT
Rose Garden
Open Press
The 2011 State Teachers of the Year:
Alabama
Phil Rodney Wilson
Ogletree Elementary School
Music, 1-5
Alaska
Lorrie Heagy
Glacier Valley Elementary School
Music and Library, K-5
American Samoa
Gingerlei Maga Uili
Lauli'i Elementary School
Mathematics, 7
Arizona
Amanda McAdams
Apollo High School
English, 10
Arkansas
Kathy Powers
Raymond and Phyllis Simon
Intermediate School
Reading, Language Arts, 5-6
California
Darin Curtis
Tierra Del Sol Middle School
Physical Education, 8
Colorado
Michelle Line Pearson
Hulstrom Options School K-8
Language Arts, Social Studies, 6-8
Connecticut
Kristen Ann Record
Frank Scott Bunnell High School
Physics, 9-12
Delaware
Joseph P. Masiello
Cab Calloway School of the Arts
English, 6
Department of Defense Education Activity
Angelica L. Jordan
Mannheim Elementary School
Spanish, Elementary
District of Columbia
Jon Nathaniel Rolle
Friendship Public Charter School-Southeast Elementary Campus
Elementary, 3
Florida
Cheryl Conley
Osceola Magnet Elementary School
Elementary, 4
Georgia
Pamela Lynch Williams
Appling County High School
Social Sciences, 9-12
Hawaii
Kristen Lum Brummel
Noelani Elementary School
Elementary, 4
Idaho
Stefani S. Cook
Rigby High School
Business Education, 10-12
Illinois
Annice M. Brave
Alton High School
English, Journalism, 11-12
Indiana
Stacy A. McCormack
Penn High School
Chemistry, Physics, General Science, 11-12
Iowa
Molly Boyle
Brookview Elementary School
Reading, 3
Kansas
Curtis Chandler
Wamego Middle School
Language Arts, 8
Kentucky
Erika Schmelzer Webb
East Jessamine High School
English/Language Arts, 11
Louisiana
Julia Williams
Lafayette High School
Mathematics, 9-11
Maine
Shelly Moody
Williams Elementary School
Elementary, 3-4 Looping
Maryland
Michelle M. Shearer
Urbana High School
Chemistry, 10-12
Massachusetts
Floris Wilma Ortiz
Amherst Regional Middle School
ESL, 7-8
Michigan
Matinga E. Ragatz
Grand Ledge High School
Social Studies, World Languages, 9-12
Minnesota
Ryan M. Vernosh
Maxfield Magnet School
Elementary, 5
Mississippi
Brad A. Shonk
Gorenflo Elementary School
Mathematics, 4
Missouri
Robert Becker
Kirkwood High School
Chemistry, 10-12
Montana
Paul Andersen
Bozeman High School
Biology, 9-12
Nebraska
Robert E. Feurer
North Bend Central Public Schools
Science, 7, 11-12
Nevada
Cheryl Macy
Carson High School
English, 9-12
New Hampshire
Angie C. Miller
Holderness Central School
Language Arts, 6-8
New Jersey
Danielle Kovach
Tulsa Trail Elementary School
Elementary, 3
New Mexico
Diana S. Fesmire
Chaparral Middle School
Mathematics, 6
New York
Jeffry Peneston
Liverpool High School
Earth Science, 9
North Carolina
Jennifer Joyner Facciolini
Midway High School
Social Studies, 9-12
North Dakota
Karen Jaclyn Toavs
Williston Middle School
Language Arts, 8
Northern Mariana Islands
Raena S. Bermudes
Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School
Elementary, 3
Ohio
Natalie Y. Wester
Gearity Professional Development School
Elementary, 3
Oklahoma
Elizabeth Smith
Byng Junior High School
Reading, 7
Oregon
Colleen M. Works
Corvallis High School
U.S. History, Government, Sociology, 9-12
Pennsylvania
Jeffrey S. Chou
Highland Elementary School
Elementary, 6
Rhode Island
Shannon G. Donovan
Scituate High School
Science, 9-12
South Carolina
Kelly Hall Nalley
Fork Shoals School
Spanish, 2-5
South Dakota
Susan Turnipseed
Camelot Intermediate School
Technology, 4
Tennessee
Cheryl D. Deaton
Pigeon Forge Primary School
Reading, Math, Social Studies, 4
Texas
Daniel Leija
Esparza Elementary School
Math and Science, 5
Utah
Gay Beck
Highland Elementary School
Elementary, K
Vermont
Jennifer Erin Lawson
Vergennes Union High School
Language Arts and Social Studies, 7-8
Virgin Islands
Daniela C. Roumou
Lockhart Elementary School
Elementary, 4
Virginia
LaTonya E. Waller
Lucille M. Brown Middle School
Science, 6, 8
Washington
Jay W. Maebori
Kentwood High School
Language Arts, 10-12
West Virginia
Drema McNeal
Park Middle School
Language Arts, 6
Wisconsin
Maureen Look-Ainsworth
Horning Middle School
Science, 8
Wyoming
Laurie Lynn Graves
Big Horn Elementary School
Math, Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, 3
For Immediate Release
WASHINGTON, DC – On Tuesday, President Obama will honor the 2011 National Teacher of the Year and State Teachers of the Year, thanking them for their hard work and dedication each and every day in the classroom. The President believes that the education of our children is critical to our nation’s success as we compete in a 21st century global economy. We must make the investments in education and continue to inspire innovation, raise graduation rates, and ultimately out-educate our global competitors.
On Monday afternoon, Dr. Jill Biden, an educator of 30 years, will host a reception honoring the 2011 State Teachers of the Year at the Vice President’s Residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, DC. This is the third year in a row that Dr. Biden will host this group of accomplished teachers at the Naval Observatory. Portions of this event will be pooled press.
The National Teacher of the Year is chosen from among the State Teachers of the Year by a national selection committee representing the major national education organizations convened by the Council of Chief State School Officers.
Members of the media who would like to cover the Teacher of the Year ceremony must contact media_affairs@who.eop.gov before 12 PM ET Monday, May 2. Members of the media who do not have a White House hard pass must also submit their full name, date of birth, Social Security number, gender, country of birth, country of citizenship and current city and state of residence.
MONDAY, MAY 2
DR. JILL BIDEN will host a reception and deliver remarks honoring the 2011 National Teachers of the Year finalists
3:30 PM EDT
U.S. Naval Observatory
Portions of this event will be pooled press
TUESDAY, MAY 3
THE PRESIDENT will deliver remarks honoring the Teacher of the Year
11:25 AM EDT
Rose Garden
Open Press
The 2011 State Teachers of the Year:
Alabama
Phil Rodney Wilson
Ogletree Elementary School
Music, 1-5
Alaska
Lorrie Heagy
Glacier Valley Elementary School
Music and Library, K-5
American Samoa
Gingerlei Maga Uili
Lauli'i Elementary School
Mathematics, 7
Arizona
Amanda McAdams
Apollo High School
English, 10
Arkansas
Kathy Powers
Raymond and Phyllis Simon
Intermediate School
Reading, Language Arts, 5-6
California
Darin Curtis
Tierra Del Sol Middle School
Physical Education, 8
Colorado
Michelle Line Pearson
Hulstrom Options School K-8
Language Arts, Social Studies, 6-8
Connecticut
Kristen Ann Record
Frank Scott Bunnell High School
Physics, 9-12
Delaware
Joseph P. Masiello
Cab Calloway School of the Arts
English, 6
Department of Defense Education Activity
Angelica L. Jordan
Mannheim Elementary School
Spanish, Elementary
District of Columbia
Jon Nathaniel Rolle
Friendship Public Charter School-Southeast Elementary Campus
Elementary, 3
Florida
Cheryl Conley
Osceola Magnet Elementary School
Elementary, 4
Georgia
Pamela Lynch Williams
Appling County High School
Social Sciences, 9-12
Hawaii
Kristen Lum Brummel
Noelani Elementary School
Elementary, 4
Idaho
Stefani S. Cook
Rigby High School
Business Education, 10-12
Illinois
Annice M. Brave
Alton High School
English, Journalism, 11-12
Indiana
Stacy A. McCormack
Penn High School
Chemistry, Physics, General Science, 11-12
Iowa
Molly Boyle
Brookview Elementary School
Reading, 3
Kansas
Curtis Chandler
Wamego Middle School
Language Arts, 8
Kentucky
Erika Schmelzer Webb
East Jessamine High School
English/Language Arts, 11
Louisiana
Julia Williams
Lafayette High School
Mathematics, 9-11
Maine
Shelly Moody
Williams Elementary School
Elementary, 3-4 Looping
Maryland
Michelle M. Shearer
Urbana High School
Chemistry, 10-12
Massachusetts
Floris Wilma Ortiz
Amherst Regional Middle School
ESL, 7-8
Michigan
Matinga E. Ragatz
Grand Ledge High School
Social Studies, World Languages, 9-12
Minnesota
Ryan M. Vernosh
Maxfield Magnet School
Elementary, 5
Mississippi
Brad A. Shonk
Gorenflo Elementary School
Mathematics, 4
Missouri
Robert Becker
Kirkwood High School
Chemistry, 10-12
Montana
Paul Andersen
Bozeman High School
Biology, 9-12
Nebraska
Robert E. Feurer
North Bend Central Public Schools
Science, 7, 11-12
Nevada
Cheryl Macy
Carson High School
English, 9-12
New Hampshire
Angie C. Miller
Holderness Central School
Language Arts, 6-8
New Jersey
Danielle Kovach
Tulsa Trail Elementary School
Elementary, 3
New Mexico
Diana S. Fesmire
Chaparral Middle School
Mathematics, 6
New York
Jeffry Peneston
Liverpool High School
Earth Science, 9
North Carolina
Jennifer Joyner Facciolini
Midway High School
Social Studies, 9-12
North Dakota
Karen Jaclyn Toavs
Williston Middle School
Language Arts, 8
Northern Mariana Islands
Raena S. Bermudes
Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School
Elementary, 3
Ohio
Natalie Y. Wester
Gearity Professional Development School
Elementary, 3
Oklahoma
Elizabeth Smith
Byng Junior High School
Reading, 7
Oregon
Colleen M. Works
Corvallis High School
U.S. History, Government, Sociology, 9-12
Pennsylvania
Jeffrey S. Chou
Highland Elementary School
Elementary, 6
Rhode Island
Shannon G. Donovan
Scituate High School
Science, 9-12
South Carolina
Kelly Hall Nalley
Fork Shoals School
Spanish, 2-5
South Dakota
Susan Turnipseed
Camelot Intermediate School
Technology, 4
Tennessee
Cheryl D. Deaton
Pigeon Forge Primary School
Reading, Math, Social Studies, 4
Texas
Daniel Leija
Esparza Elementary School
Math and Science, 5
Utah
Gay Beck
Highland Elementary School
Elementary, K
Vermont
Jennifer Erin Lawson
Vergennes Union High School
Language Arts and Social Studies, 7-8
Virgin Islands
Daniela C. Roumou
Lockhart Elementary School
Elementary, 4
Virginia
LaTonya E. Waller
Lucille M. Brown Middle School
Science, 6, 8
Washington
Jay W. Maebori
Kentwood High School
Language Arts, 10-12
West Virginia
Drema McNeal
Park Middle School
Language Arts, 6
Wisconsin
Maureen Look-Ainsworth
Horning Middle School
Science, 8
Wyoming
Laurie Lynn Graves
Big Horn Elementary School
Math, Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, 3
George Will George Bush global warming Joe Biden Bush tax cuts
President Obama, Dr. Jill Biden to Honor Teachers of the Year
Release Time:
For Immediate Release
WASHINGTON, DC – On Tuesday, President Obama will honor the 2011 National Teacher of the Year and State Teachers of the Year, thanking them for their hard work and dedication each and every day in the classroom. The President believes that the education of our children is critical to our nation’s success as we compete in a 21st century global economy. We must make the investments in education and continue to inspire innovation, raise graduation rates, and ultimately out-educate our global competitors.
On Monday afternoon, Dr. Jill Biden, an educator of 30 years, will host a reception honoring the 2011 State Teachers of the Year at the Vice President’s Residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, DC. This is the third year in a row that Dr. Biden will host this group of accomplished teachers at the Naval Observatory. Portions of this event will be pooled press.
The National Teacher of the Year is chosen from among the State Teachers of the Year by a national selection committee representing the major national education organizations convened by the Council of Chief State School Officers.
Members of the media who would like to cover the Teacher of the Year ceremony must contact media_affairs@who.eop.gov before 12 PM ET Monday, May 2. Members of the media who do not have a White House hard pass must also submit their full name, date of birth, Social Security number, gender, country of birth, country of citizenship and current city and state of residence.
MONDAY, MAY 2
DR. JILL BIDEN will host a reception and deliver remarks honoring the 2011 National Teachers of the Year finalists
3:30 PM EDT
U.S. Naval Observatory
Portions of this event will be pooled press
TUESDAY, MAY 3
THE PRESIDENT will deliver remarks honoring the Teacher of the Year
11:25 AM EDT
Rose Garden
Open Press
The 2011 State Teachers of the Year:
Alabama
Phil Rodney Wilson
Ogletree Elementary School
Music, 1-5
Alaska
Lorrie Heagy
Glacier Valley Elementary School
Music and Library, K-5
American Samoa
Gingerlei Maga Uili
Lauli'i Elementary School
Mathematics, 7
Arizona
Amanda McAdams
Apollo High School
English, 10
Arkansas
Kathy Powers
Raymond and Phyllis Simon
Intermediate School
Reading, Language Arts, 5-6
California
Darin Curtis
Tierra Del Sol Middle School
Physical Education, 8
Colorado
Michelle Line Pearson
Hulstrom Options School K-8
Language Arts, Social Studies, 6-8
Connecticut
Kristen Ann Record
Frank Scott Bunnell High School
Physics, 9-12
Delaware
Joseph P. Masiello
Cab Calloway School of the Arts
English, 6
Department of Defense Education Activity
Angelica L. Jordan
Mannheim Elementary School
Spanish, Elementary
District of Columbia
Jon Nathaniel Rolle
Friendship Public Charter School-Southeast Elementary Campus
Elementary, 3
Florida
Cheryl Conley
Osceola Magnet Elementary School
Elementary, 4
Georgia
Pamela Lynch Williams
Appling County High School
Social Sciences, 9-12
Hawaii
Kristen Lum Brummel
Noelani Elementary School
Elementary, 4
Idaho
Stefani S. Cook
Rigby High School
Business Education, 10-12
Illinois
Annice M. Brave
Alton High School
English, Journalism, 11-12
Indiana
Stacy A. McCormack
Penn High School
Chemistry, Physics, General Science, 11-12
Iowa
Molly Boyle
Brookview Elementary School
Reading, 3
Kansas
Curtis Chandler
Wamego Middle School
Language Arts, 8
Kentucky
Erika Schmelzer Webb
East Jessamine High School
English/Language Arts, 11
Louisiana
Julia Williams
Lafayette High School
Mathematics, 9-11
Maine
Shelly Moody
Williams Elementary School
Elementary, 3-4 Looping
Maryland
Michelle M. Shearer
Urbana High School
Chemistry, 10-12
Massachusetts
Floris Wilma Ortiz
Amherst Regional Middle School
ESL, 7-8
Michigan
Matinga E. Ragatz
Grand Ledge High School
Social Studies, World Languages, 9-12
Minnesota
Ryan M. Vernosh
Maxfield Magnet School
Elementary, 5
Mississippi
Brad A. Shonk
Gorenflo Elementary School
Mathematics, 4
Missouri
Robert Becker
Kirkwood High School
Chemistry, 10-12
Montana
Paul Andersen
Bozeman High School
Biology, 9-12
Nebraska
Robert E. Feurer
North Bend Central Public Schools
Science, 7, 11-12
Nevada
Cheryl Macy
Carson High School
English, 9-12
New Hampshire
Angie C. Miller
Holderness Central School
Language Arts, 6-8
New Jersey
Danielle Kovach
Tulsa Trail Elementary School
Elementary, 3
New Mexico
Diana S. Fesmire
Chaparral Middle School
Mathematics, 6
New York
Jeffry Peneston
Liverpool High School
Earth Science, 9
North Carolina
Jennifer Joyner Facciolini
Midway High School
Social Studies, 9-12
North Dakota
Karen Jaclyn Toavs
Williston Middle School
Language Arts, 8
Northern Mariana Islands
Raena S. Bermudes
Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School
Elementary, 3
Ohio
Natalie Y. Wester
Gearity Professional Development School
Elementary, 3
Oklahoma
Elizabeth Smith
Byng Junior High School
Reading, 7
Oregon
Colleen M. Works
Corvallis High School
U.S. History, Government, Sociology, 9-12
Pennsylvania
Jeffrey S. Chou
Highland Elementary School
Elementary, 6
Rhode Island
Shannon G. Donovan
Scituate High School
Science, 9-12
South Carolina
Kelly Hall Nalley
Fork Shoals School
Spanish, 2-5
South Dakota
Susan Turnipseed
Camelot Intermediate School
Technology, 4
Tennessee
Cheryl D. Deaton
Pigeon Forge Primary School
Reading, Math, Social Studies, 4
Texas
Daniel Leija
Esparza Elementary School
Math and Science, 5
Utah
Gay Beck
Highland Elementary School
Elementary, K
Vermont
Jennifer Erin Lawson
Vergennes Union High School
Language Arts and Social Studies, 7-8
Virgin Islands
Daniela C. Roumou
Lockhart Elementary School
Elementary, 4
Virginia
LaTonya E. Waller
Lucille M. Brown Middle School
Science, 6, 8
Washington
Jay W. Maebori
Kentwood High School
Language Arts, 10-12
West Virginia
Drema McNeal
Park Middle School
Language Arts, 6
Wisconsin
Maureen Look-Ainsworth
Horning Middle School
Science, 8
Wyoming
Laurie Lynn Graves
Big Horn Elementary School
Math, Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, 3
For Immediate Release
WASHINGTON, DC – On Tuesday, President Obama will honor the 2011 National Teacher of the Year and State Teachers of the Year, thanking them for their hard work and dedication each and every day in the classroom. The President believes that the education of our children is critical to our nation’s success as we compete in a 21st century global economy. We must make the investments in education and continue to inspire innovation, raise graduation rates, and ultimately out-educate our global competitors.
On Monday afternoon, Dr. Jill Biden, an educator of 30 years, will host a reception honoring the 2011 State Teachers of the Year at the Vice President’s Residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, DC. This is the third year in a row that Dr. Biden will host this group of accomplished teachers at the Naval Observatory. Portions of this event will be pooled press.
The National Teacher of the Year is chosen from among the State Teachers of the Year by a national selection committee representing the major national education organizations convened by the Council of Chief State School Officers.
Members of the media who would like to cover the Teacher of the Year ceremony must contact media_affairs@who.eop.gov before 12 PM ET Monday, May 2. Members of the media who do not have a White House hard pass must also submit their full name, date of birth, Social Security number, gender, country of birth, country of citizenship and current city and state of residence.
MONDAY, MAY 2
DR. JILL BIDEN will host a reception and deliver remarks honoring the 2011 National Teachers of the Year finalists
3:30 PM EDT
U.S. Naval Observatory
Portions of this event will be pooled press
TUESDAY, MAY 3
THE PRESIDENT will deliver remarks honoring the Teacher of the Year
11:25 AM EDT
Rose Garden
Open Press
The 2011 State Teachers of the Year:
Alabama
Phil Rodney Wilson
Ogletree Elementary School
Music, 1-5
Alaska
Lorrie Heagy
Glacier Valley Elementary School
Music and Library, K-5
American Samoa
Gingerlei Maga Uili
Lauli'i Elementary School
Mathematics, 7
Arizona
Amanda McAdams
Apollo High School
English, 10
Arkansas
Kathy Powers
Raymond and Phyllis Simon
Intermediate School
Reading, Language Arts, 5-6
California
Darin Curtis
Tierra Del Sol Middle School
Physical Education, 8
Colorado
Michelle Line Pearson
Hulstrom Options School K-8
Language Arts, Social Studies, 6-8
Connecticut
Kristen Ann Record
Frank Scott Bunnell High School
Physics, 9-12
Delaware
Joseph P. Masiello
Cab Calloway School of the Arts
English, 6
Department of Defense Education Activity
Angelica L. Jordan
Mannheim Elementary School
Spanish, Elementary
District of Columbia
Jon Nathaniel Rolle
Friendship Public Charter School-Southeast Elementary Campus
Elementary, 3
Florida
Cheryl Conley
Osceola Magnet Elementary School
Elementary, 4
Georgia
Pamela Lynch Williams
Appling County High School
Social Sciences, 9-12
Hawaii
Kristen Lum Brummel
Noelani Elementary School
Elementary, 4
Idaho
Stefani S. Cook
Rigby High School
Business Education, 10-12
Illinois
Annice M. Brave
Alton High School
English, Journalism, 11-12
Indiana
Stacy A. McCormack
Penn High School
Chemistry, Physics, General Science, 11-12
Iowa
Molly Boyle
Brookview Elementary School
Reading, 3
Kansas
Curtis Chandler
Wamego Middle School
Language Arts, 8
Kentucky
Erika Schmelzer Webb
East Jessamine High School
English/Language Arts, 11
Louisiana
Julia Williams
Lafayette High School
Mathematics, 9-11
Maine
Shelly Moody
Williams Elementary School
Elementary, 3-4 Looping
Maryland
Michelle M. Shearer
Urbana High School
Chemistry, 10-12
Massachusetts
Floris Wilma Ortiz
Amherst Regional Middle School
ESL, 7-8
Michigan
Matinga E. Ragatz
Grand Ledge High School
Social Studies, World Languages, 9-12
Minnesota
Ryan M. Vernosh
Maxfield Magnet School
Elementary, 5
Mississippi
Brad A. Shonk
Gorenflo Elementary School
Mathematics, 4
Missouri
Robert Becker
Kirkwood High School
Chemistry, 10-12
Montana
Paul Andersen
Bozeman High School
Biology, 9-12
Nebraska
Robert E. Feurer
North Bend Central Public Schools
Science, 7, 11-12
Nevada
Cheryl Macy
Carson High School
English, 9-12
New Hampshire
Angie C. Miller
Holderness Central School
Language Arts, 6-8
New Jersey
Danielle Kovach
Tulsa Trail Elementary School
Elementary, 3
New Mexico
Diana S. Fesmire
Chaparral Middle School
Mathematics, 6
New York
Jeffry Peneston
Liverpool High School
Earth Science, 9
North Carolina
Jennifer Joyner Facciolini
Midway High School
Social Studies, 9-12
North Dakota
Karen Jaclyn Toavs
Williston Middle School
Language Arts, 8
Northern Mariana Islands
Raena S. Bermudes
Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School
Elementary, 3
Ohio
Natalie Y. Wester
Gearity Professional Development School
Elementary, 3
Oklahoma
Elizabeth Smith
Byng Junior High School
Reading, 7
Oregon
Colleen M. Works
Corvallis High School
U.S. History, Government, Sociology, 9-12
Pennsylvania
Jeffrey S. Chou
Highland Elementary School
Elementary, 6
Rhode Island
Shannon G. Donovan
Scituate High School
Science, 9-12
South Carolina
Kelly Hall Nalley
Fork Shoals School
Spanish, 2-5
South Dakota
Susan Turnipseed
Camelot Intermediate School
Technology, 4
Tennessee
Cheryl D. Deaton
Pigeon Forge Primary School
Reading, Math, Social Studies, 4
Texas
Daniel Leija
Esparza Elementary School
Math and Science, 5
Utah
Gay Beck
Highland Elementary School
Elementary, K
Vermont
Jennifer Erin Lawson
Vergennes Union High School
Language Arts and Social Studies, 7-8
Virgin Islands
Daniela C. Roumou
Lockhart Elementary School
Elementary, 4
Virginia
LaTonya E. Waller
Lucille M. Brown Middle School
Science, 6, 8
Washington
Jay W. Maebori
Kentwood High School
Language Arts, 10-12
West Virginia
Drema McNeal
Park Middle School
Language Arts, 6
Wisconsin
Maureen Look-Ainsworth
Horning Middle School
Science, 8
Wyoming
Laurie Lynn Graves
Big Horn Elementary School
Math, Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, 3
racial controversy U.S. banks Charlie Rangel Arizona immigration
The Unspeakable Recklessness of Rick Santorum
It's hard to say whether more I'm shocked by former Senator Rick Santorum's sheer stupidity or outraged by the flippant callousness of his remarks. I suspect the former since the latter should not surprise even as the inhumanity remains ever so striking. For the nation to invest in the health and well being of its citizens is not now, nor is it likely to ever be in the foreseeable future, a priority for the GOP, but for a likely Presidential candidate to under any condition to advocate for a debt default simply speaks of an outrageous ignorance of economics and unspeakable recklessness.
Via Think Progress:
As the U.S. steps closer to the economic ledge, a litany of Republican lawmakers are holding the debt ceiling hostage over unpopular priorities like lowering the corporate tax rate cutting entitlement programs. Likely GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum made his own ransom demand today on Fox News Sunday, telling host Chris Wallace that defunding the health care law is “the price” he demands for the debt ceiling and that he’d “absolutely” let the country go into default over it:
SANTORUM: [The health care law] is a program that if the president wants to defend, he should stand up and say the 2012 election is about Obamacare. We’ll put this on hold, and make it a referendum on Obamacare.
WALLACE: Well ok that’s 2012, but you’re saying you’d let the country go into default on this issue.
SANTORUM: No I think the president would let this country go into default on this issue.
WALLACE: But you would make that the condition — you’d make that the price?
SANTORUM: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Over at Capital Gains and Games, Bruce Barlett, a domestic policy adviser to President Ronald Reagan and a Treasury official under President George H.W. Bush, bemoans that Wall Street, and the nation for that matter, should have known better then to send "a bunch of not-too-bright, ignorant Tea Party members to Congress." Imagine putting one in the White House.
Via Think Progress:
As the U.S. steps closer to the economic ledge, a litany of Republican lawmakers are holding the debt ceiling hostage over unpopular priorities like lowering the corporate tax rate cutting entitlement programs. Likely GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum made his own ransom demand today on Fox News Sunday, telling host Chris Wallace that defunding the health care law is “the price” he demands for the debt ceiling and that he’d “absolutely” let the country go into default over it:
SANTORUM: [The health care law] is a program that if the president wants to defend, he should stand up and say the 2012 election is about Obamacare. We’ll put this on hold, and make it a referendum on Obamacare.
WALLACE: Well ok that’s 2012, but you’re saying you’d let the country go into default on this issue.
SANTORUM: No I think the president would let this country go into default on this issue.
WALLACE: But you would make that the condition — you’d make that the price?
SANTORUM: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Over at Capital Gains and Games, Bruce Barlett, a domestic policy adviser to President Ronald Reagan and a Treasury official under President George H.W. Bush, bemoans that Wall Street, and the nation for that matter, should have known better then to send "a bunch of not-too-bright, ignorant Tea Party members to Congress." Imagine putting one in the White House.
washington bureaucrats John Kerry George Will George Bush global warming
Letter from the President to Congressional Leadership Regarding Oil Subsidies
Release Time:
For Immediate Release
April 26, 2011
The Honorable John Boehner The Honorable Harry Reid
Speaker of the Majority Leader
House of Representatives United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20515 Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Democratic Leader Republican Leader
House of Representatives United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20515 Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Speaker Boehner, Senator Reid, Senator McConnell, and Representative Pelosi:
I am writing to urge you to take immediate action to eliminate unwarranted tax breaks for the oil and gas industry, and to use those dollars to invest in clean energy to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
High oil and gasoline prices are weighing on the minds and pocketbooks of every American family. While our economy has begun to recover, with 1.8 million private sector jobs created over the last 13 months, too many Americans are still struggling to find a job or simply just to pay the bills. The recent steep increase in gas prices, driven by increased global demand and compounded by unrest and supply disruptions in the Middle East, has only added to those struggles. If sustained, these high prices have the potential to slow down the pace of our economy’s growth at precisely the moment when we need to be accelerating it.
While there is no silver bullet to address rising gas prices in the short term, there are steps we can take to ensure the American people don’t fall victim to skyrocketing gas prices over the long term. One of those steps is to eliminate unwarranted tax breaks to the oil and gas industry and invest that revenue into clean energy to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Our outdated tax laws currently provide the oil and gas industry more than $4 billion per year in these subsidies, even though oil prices are high and the industry is projected to report outsized profits this quarter. In fact, in the past CEO’s of the major oil companies made it clear that high oil prices provide more than enough profit motive to invest in domestic exploration and production without special tax breaks. As we work together to reduce our deficits, we simply can’t afford these wasteful subsidies, and that is why I proposed to eliminate them in my FY11 and FY12 budgets.
I was heartened that Speaker Boehner yesterday expressed openness to eliminating these tax subsidies for the oil and gas industry. Our political system has for too long avoided and ignored this important step, and I hope we can come together in a bipartisan manner to get it done.
In addition, we need to get to work immediately on the longer term goal of reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and our vulnerability to price fluctuations this dependence creates. Without a comprehensive energy strategy for the future we will stay stuck in the same old pattern of heated political rhetoric when prices rise and apathy and neglect when they fall again.
I recently laid out my approach to a comprehensive strategy in my Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future, which includes safe and responsible production of our domestic oil and gas resources and doubling down on fuel efficiency in the transportation sector while investing in everything from wind and solar to biofuels and natural gas. None of you will agree with every aspect of this strategy. But I am confident that, in many areas, we can work together to help show the American people that we can make progress on an energy policy that creates jobs and makes our country more secure.
And I hope we can all agree that, instead of continuing to subsidize yesterday’s energy sources, we need to invest in tomorrow’s. We need to invest in a 21st century clean energy economy that will keep America competitive. In the long term, that’s the answer. That’s the key to helping families avoid pain at the pump and reducing our dependence on foreign oil.
Sincerely,
Barack Obama
For Immediate Release
April 26, 2011
The Honorable John Boehner The Honorable Harry Reid
Speaker of the Majority Leader
House of Representatives United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20515 Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Democratic Leader Republican Leader
House of Representatives United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20515 Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Speaker Boehner, Senator Reid, Senator McConnell, and Representative Pelosi:
I am writing to urge you to take immediate action to eliminate unwarranted tax breaks for the oil and gas industry, and to use those dollars to invest in clean energy to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
High oil and gasoline prices are weighing on the minds and pocketbooks of every American family. While our economy has begun to recover, with 1.8 million private sector jobs created over the last 13 months, too many Americans are still struggling to find a job or simply just to pay the bills. The recent steep increase in gas prices, driven by increased global demand and compounded by unrest and supply disruptions in the Middle East, has only added to those struggles. If sustained, these high prices have the potential to slow down the pace of our economy’s growth at precisely the moment when we need to be accelerating it.
While there is no silver bullet to address rising gas prices in the short term, there are steps we can take to ensure the American people don’t fall victim to skyrocketing gas prices over the long term. One of those steps is to eliminate unwarranted tax breaks to the oil and gas industry and invest that revenue into clean energy to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Our outdated tax laws currently provide the oil and gas industry more than $4 billion per year in these subsidies, even though oil prices are high and the industry is projected to report outsized profits this quarter. In fact, in the past CEO’s of the major oil companies made it clear that high oil prices provide more than enough profit motive to invest in domestic exploration and production without special tax breaks. As we work together to reduce our deficits, we simply can’t afford these wasteful subsidies, and that is why I proposed to eliminate them in my FY11 and FY12 budgets.
I was heartened that Speaker Boehner yesterday expressed openness to eliminating these tax subsidies for the oil and gas industry. Our political system has for too long avoided and ignored this important step, and I hope we can come together in a bipartisan manner to get it done.
In addition, we need to get to work immediately on the longer term goal of reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and our vulnerability to price fluctuations this dependence creates. Without a comprehensive energy strategy for the future we will stay stuck in the same old pattern of heated political rhetoric when prices rise and apathy and neglect when they fall again.
I recently laid out my approach to a comprehensive strategy in my Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future, which includes safe and responsible production of our domestic oil and gas resources and doubling down on fuel efficiency in the transportation sector while investing in everything from wind and solar to biofuels and natural gas. None of you will agree with every aspect of this strategy. But I am confident that, in many areas, we can work together to help show the American people that we can make progress on an energy policy that creates jobs and makes our country more secure.
And I hope we can all agree that, instead of continuing to subsidize yesterday’s energy sources, we need to invest in tomorrow’s. We need to invest in a 21st century clean energy economy that will keep America competitive. In the long term, that’s the answer. That’s the key to helping families avoid pain at the pump and reducing our dependence on foreign oil.
Sincerely,
Barack Obama
Sarah Palin Chelsa Clinton Michelle Obama Sean Hannity Glenn Beck
Allen West Calls Pres. Obama "A Low-Level Socialist Agitator"
Allen West (R-Florida) responds on Fox News to Barack Obama's comments about Paul Ryan being America's accountant. What's wrong with Allen West's hair?
�
Thursday, April 28, 2011
President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts
Release Time:
For Immediate Release
WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:
Judy Gaynor, Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars
Richard P. Herman, Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars
Robert Langer, Member, President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science
Wendy Wanderman, Member, Advisory Committee on the Arts for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Thomas E. Wheeler, Member, President’s Intelligence Advisory Board
President Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:
Judy Gaynor, Appointee for Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars
Judy Gaynor is currently a co-founding Member of the Chicago Committee of Human Rights Watch and a Member of the Advisory Committee of the Children’s Rights Division. Ms. Gaynor was previously a consultant for Senators Adlai Stevenson and Paul Simon. From 1997 to 2003, she was Executive Director of the Chicago International Film Festival. Ms. Gaynor has served on the boards of Business and Professional People for the Public Interest and the Illinois Arts Alliance. In addition, she served on committees for the American Civil Liberties Union, the Chicago Foundation for Women, Facing History and Ourselves, and the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs. Earlier in her career, Ms. Gaynor was a schoolteacher in Chicago. She holds a B.A. from the National College of Education.
Richard P. Herman, Appointee for Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars
Richard P. Herman is currently an educational consultant. Mr. Herman recently retired, following nearly 50 years as a founding Director of Windsor Mountain International (formerly Interlocken International Camp & Educational Travel), an organization that hosts local and international youth in experiential educational, residential, and travel programs with a focus on Community Service Learning. He also founded and directed the Educational Opportunities Fund of New Hampshire which provides scholarships for deserving youth. Mr. Herman served on the boards of the New Hampshire Children's Alliance, the American Camping Association and Bard/Simon's Rock Early College. He holds a B.A. in History from the University of Massachusetts and an M.A. in Education and Counseling from Northeastern University.
Robert Langer, Appointee for Member, President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science
Robert Langer is the David H. Koch Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has written more than 1,100 peer reviewed articles, has approximately 800 issued and pending patents worldwide, and is one of the most cited engineers in history. Dr. Langer is the recipient of the 2006 National Medal of Science, the 2002 Charles Stark Draper Prize, and the 2008 Millennium Prize. In 1998, he received the Lemelson-MIT prize, the world’s largest prize for invention, for being “one of history’s most prolific inventors in medicine.” Dr. Langer received his Bachelor’s Degree from Cornell University in 1970 and his Sc.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1974, both in Chemical Engineering.
Wendy Wanderman, Appointee for Member, Advisory Committee on the Arts for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Wendy Wanderman is an entertainment professional who has specialized in the production and marketing of motion pictures. She currently serves as the Associate Program Director for The Commonwealth Club of California, the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum, where she is responsible for the organization’s programming in San Francisco. She was the executive producer of the Bill Couturie documentary, "Into the Fire" for the History Channel and the executive producer of the 2001 Warner Brothers release, "Sweet November." Ms. Wanderman received her M.B.A. from Columbia University and her B.A. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Thomas E. Wheeler, Appointee for Member, President’s Intelligence Advisory Board
Tom Wheeler is a Managing Director at Core Capital Partners, a venture capital firm that invests in companies focused on information technology, communications, digital media, and technology-enabled services. Before joining Core Capital in 2005, Mr. Wheeler was CEO of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association and previously served as President of the National Cable Television Association. As an entrepreneur, Mr. Wheeler has founded multiple companies offering cable, wireless, and video communications services. He is the only person inducted into both the Cable Television Hall of Fame and the Wireless Industry Hall of Fame. Mr. Wheeler is currently Chairman of the U.S. State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy and Chairman of the FCC’s Technology Advisory Council. He is a former Chairman of the Foundation for the National Archives and a former Trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, to which he was appointed by Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Mr. Wheeler holds a B.S. in Business Administration from The Ohio State University and is a recipient of the University’s Alumni Medal for national and international career achievement.
For Immediate Release
WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:
Judy Gaynor, Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars
Richard P. Herman, Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars
Robert Langer, Member, President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science
Wendy Wanderman, Member, Advisory Committee on the Arts for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Thomas E. Wheeler, Member, President’s Intelligence Advisory Board
President Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:
Judy Gaynor, Appointee for Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars
Judy Gaynor is currently a co-founding Member of the Chicago Committee of Human Rights Watch and a Member of the Advisory Committee of the Children’s Rights Division. Ms. Gaynor was previously a consultant for Senators Adlai Stevenson and Paul Simon. From 1997 to 2003, she was Executive Director of the Chicago International Film Festival. Ms. Gaynor has served on the boards of Business and Professional People for the Public Interest and the Illinois Arts Alliance. In addition, she served on committees for the American Civil Liberties Union, the Chicago Foundation for Women, Facing History and Ourselves, and the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs. Earlier in her career, Ms. Gaynor was a schoolteacher in Chicago. She holds a B.A. from the National College of Education.
Richard P. Herman, Appointee for Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars
Richard P. Herman is currently an educational consultant. Mr. Herman recently retired, following nearly 50 years as a founding Director of Windsor Mountain International (formerly Interlocken International Camp & Educational Travel), an organization that hosts local and international youth in experiential educational, residential, and travel programs with a focus on Community Service Learning. He also founded and directed the Educational Opportunities Fund of New Hampshire which provides scholarships for deserving youth. Mr. Herman served on the boards of the New Hampshire Children's Alliance, the American Camping Association and Bard/Simon's Rock Early College. He holds a B.A. in History from the University of Massachusetts and an M.A. in Education and Counseling from Northeastern University.
Robert Langer, Appointee for Member, President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science
Robert Langer is the David H. Koch Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has written more than 1,100 peer reviewed articles, has approximately 800 issued and pending patents worldwide, and is one of the most cited engineers in history. Dr. Langer is the recipient of the 2006 National Medal of Science, the 2002 Charles Stark Draper Prize, and the 2008 Millennium Prize. In 1998, he received the Lemelson-MIT prize, the world’s largest prize for invention, for being “one of history’s most prolific inventors in medicine.” Dr. Langer received his Bachelor’s Degree from Cornell University in 1970 and his Sc.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1974, both in Chemical Engineering.
Wendy Wanderman, Appointee for Member, Advisory Committee on the Arts for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Wendy Wanderman is an entertainment professional who has specialized in the production and marketing of motion pictures. She currently serves as the Associate Program Director for The Commonwealth Club of California, the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum, where she is responsible for the organization’s programming in San Francisco. She was the executive producer of the Bill Couturie documentary, "Into the Fire" for the History Channel and the executive producer of the 2001 Warner Brothers release, "Sweet November." Ms. Wanderman received her M.B.A. from Columbia University and her B.A. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Thomas E. Wheeler, Appointee for Member, President’s Intelligence Advisory Board
Tom Wheeler is a Managing Director at Core Capital Partners, a venture capital firm that invests in companies focused on information technology, communications, digital media, and technology-enabled services. Before joining Core Capital in 2005, Mr. Wheeler was CEO of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association and previously served as President of the National Cable Television Association. As an entrepreneur, Mr. Wheeler has founded multiple companies offering cable, wireless, and video communications services. He is the only person inducted into both the Cable Television Hall of Fame and the Wireless Industry Hall of Fame. Mr. Wheeler is currently Chairman of the U.S. State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy and Chairman of the FCC’s Technology Advisory Council. He is a former Chairman of the Foundation for the National Archives and a former Trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, to which he was appointed by Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Mr. Wheeler holds a B.S. in Business Administration from The Ohio State University and is a recipient of the University’s Alumni Medal for national and international career achievement.
washington bureaucrats John Kerry George Will George Bush global warming
President Obama to Award Medal of Honor
Release Time:
For Immediate Release
On Monday, May 2 at 12:00 PM Eastern, President Barack Obama will award Private First Class Anthony T. Kaho’ohanohano [KA ho OH hano hano], U.S. Army, and Private First Class Henry Svehla [SUH vay luh], U.S. Army, the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry. This event in the East Room will be open press.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Private First Class Kaho’ohanohano will receive the Medal of Honor posthumously for his heroic actions in combat on September 1, 1951, while in charge of a machine-gun squad with Company H, 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division in the Republic of Korea.
When faced by an enemy with overwhelming numbers, Private First Class Kaho’ohanohano ordered his squad to take up more defensible positions and provide covering fire for the withdrawing friendly force. He then gathered a supply of grenades and ammunition and returned to his original position to face the enemy alone - delivering deadly accurate fire into the ranks of the onrushing enemy. When his ammunition was depleted, he engaged the enemy in hand-to-hand combat until he was killed. His heroic stand so inspired his comrades that they launched a counterattack that completely repulsed the enemy.
Private First Class Kaho’ohanohano's sister, Elaine Kaho’ohanohano, and brother, Eugene Kaho’ohanohano, will join the President at the White House to commemorate their brother's example of selfless service and sacrifice.
Private First Class Henry Svehla will receive the Medal of Honor posthumously for his heroic actions in combat on June 12, 1952, while serving as a rifleman with Company F, 32d Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division in the Republic of Korea.
Coming under heavy fire and with his platoon’s attack beginning to falter, Private First Class Svehla leapt to his feet and charged the enemy positions, firing his weapon and throwing grenades as he advanced. Disregarding his own safety, he destroyed enemy positions and inflicted heavy casualties. When an enemy grenade landed among a group of his comrades, without hesitation and undoubtedly aware of the extreme danger, he threw himself on the grenade. During this action, Private First Class Svehla was mortally wounded.
Private First Class Henry Svehla's sisters, Dorothy Mathews and Sylvia Svehla will join the President at the White House to commemorate their brother’s example of selfless service and sacrifice.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
THE MEDAL OF HONOR:
The Medal of Honor is awarded to a member of the Armed Forces who distinguishes themselves conspicuously by gallantry above and beyond the call of duty while:
engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States;
engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force; or
serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party.
The meritorious conduct must involve great personal bravery or self-sacrifice so conspicuous as to clearly distinguish the individual above his or her comrades and must have involved risk of life. There must be incontestable proof of the performance of the meritorious conduct, and each recommendation for the award must be considered on the standard of extraordinary merit.
For Immediate Release
On Monday, May 2 at 12:00 PM Eastern, President Barack Obama will award Private First Class Anthony T. Kaho’ohanohano [KA ho OH hano hano], U.S. Army, and Private First Class Henry Svehla [SUH vay luh], U.S. Army, the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry. This event in the East Room will be open press.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Private First Class Kaho’ohanohano will receive the Medal of Honor posthumously for his heroic actions in combat on September 1, 1951, while in charge of a machine-gun squad with Company H, 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division in the Republic of Korea.
When faced by an enemy with overwhelming numbers, Private First Class Kaho’ohanohano ordered his squad to take up more defensible positions and provide covering fire for the withdrawing friendly force. He then gathered a supply of grenades and ammunition and returned to his original position to face the enemy alone - delivering deadly accurate fire into the ranks of the onrushing enemy. When his ammunition was depleted, he engaged the enemy in hand-to-hand combat until he was killed. His heroic stand so inspired his comrades that they launched a counterattack that completely repulsed the enemy.
Private First Class Kaho’ohanohano's sister, Elaine Kaho’ohanohano, and brother, Eugene Kaho’ohanohano, will join the President at the White House to commemorate their brother's example of selfless service and sacrifice.
Private First Class Henry Svehla will receive the Medal of Honor posthumously for his heroic actions in combat on June 12, 1952, while serving as a rifleman with Company F, 32d Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division in the Republic of Korea.
Coming under heavy fire and with his platoon’s attack beginning to falter, Private First Class Svehla leapt to his feet and charged the enemy positions, firing his weapon and throwing grenades as he advanced. Disregarding his own safety, he destroyed enemy positions and inflicted heavy casualties. When an enemy grenade landed among a group of his comrades, without hesitation and undoubtedly aware of the extreme danger, he threw himself on the grenade. During this action, Private First Class Svehla was mortally wounded.
Private First Class Henry Svehla's sisters, Dorothy Mathews and Sylvia Svehla will join the President at the White House to commemorate their brother’s example of selfless service and sacrifice.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
THE MEDAL OF HONOR:
The Medal of Honor is awarded to a member of the Armed Forces who distinguishes themselves conspicuously by gallantry above and beyond the call of duty while:
engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States;
engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force; or
serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party.
The meritorious conduct must involve great personal bravery or self-sacrifice so conspicuous as to clearly distinguish the individual above his or her comrades and must have involved risk of life. There must be incontestable proof of the performance of the meritorious conduct, and each recommendation for the award must be considered on the standard of extraordinary merit.
DCCC Throws in Towel on 4 Races It Thought It Could Win
Democrats are starting to pull their money from congressional races they once saw as winnable. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has canceled TV ads in four hotly contested races, Politico reports.� This is yet another indication that Republicans are headed for a landslide victory.
The ads are being pulled for two freshmen, Florida Rep. Suzanne Kosmas and Ohio Rep. Steve Driehaus and for two Democrat-held open seats in conservative districts: Indiana?s 8th and Tennessee?s 8th, a Democratic insider tells Politico.
The DCCC also cut its ad spending for Arizona Rep. Harry Mitchell and Wisconsin Rep. Steve Kagen, who look like they?re going down, too.
� Newsmax. All rights reserved.
illegal immigrant Pakistani The View gubernatorial candidate Howard Dean
Remarks by the President at a DNC Event, 4/28/11
Release Time:
For Immediate Release
Location:
The Town Hall New York, New York
9:49 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, New York! Thank you. How is everybody doing tonight? (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you. All right, everybody -- everybody, have a seat, have a seat. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you, New York. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Everybody, have a seat. Have a seat, have a seat. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you.
Are you fired up? Is that what you’re saying? (Applause.) I’m fired up, too. My name is Barack Obama. (Applause.) I was born in Hawaii. (Applause.) The 50th state of the United States of America. (Applause.) No one checked my ID on the way in. (Laughter.) But just in case -- (laughter.)
I was out in Chicago earlier today. I was taping Oprah for one of her last shows. I was a little disappointed, though -- when I looked under my seat, there was nothing there. (Laughter.)
AUDIENCE MEMBERS: (Inaudible.)
AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: See, there’s always something going on in New York City. (Laughter and applause.) Always.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you!
THE PRESIDENT: I love you back. (Applause.)
So it is good to get out of D.C. D.C. is a wonderful town, but the conversation you hear in Washington is just a little different than you usually hear around the kitchen table or around the water cooler.
And that's why we recently decided that our reelection campaign will be the first one in modern history to be based outside of Washington, D.C. We’re going back to Chicago -- (applause) -- because I don't want a campaign where I’m just hearing from lobbyists and pundits and powerbrokers. I want our campaign to be hearing from the people who helped me to get to the Oval Office. I want to be hearing from you. (Applause.)
We’re making sure we’re putting the campaign in your hands -- the same organizers, the same volunteers, the same people who proved that we could do --
AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, okay, thank you. All right, so let me just say -- no, they can stay. I think they made their point. They’re all right. That's all right. But if any of the rest of you have something to say -- (laughter) -- let’s just knock it out right now. (Laughter and applause.)
All right, where was I? (Laughter.) I was talking about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. (Applause.) And by the way, I just want you to know that Jim Messina, who has been by my side since this campaign began, he is going to do a great job. He is going to be doing a great job on our behalf. We’re very proud of him.
Which reminds me, by the way, I know the reason you guys are all fired up, is because the Roots were playing. (Laughter.) So give the Roots a big round of applause. (Applause.)
So that's what this campaign is still about. It’s your campaign. It’s not my campaign, it’s your campaign.
Now, a few things have changed since 2008. I’m a little grayer. (Laughter.)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Looking good!
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Laughter.) Thank you. (Applause.) Michelle thinks so also. (Laughter.) You know, I’ve got a few dents, a few dings in the fender. But all of us can still remember that night in Grant Park -- the excitement, the sense of possibility. And I hope you also remember what I said back then. I said, this wasn’t the end, this was the beginning; that our climb was going to be steep to the summit where we wanted to get to.
Now, it turns out the climb was a little steeper than we expected. (Laughter.) We took office during the worst recession since the Great Depression, one that left millions of Americans without jobs, hundreds of thousands of people without homes. It was a recession that was so bad that we still see the lingering effects, people still grappling with the aftershocks.
So we had to make some tough decisions, and some of those decisions weren’t always popular. But two and a half years later, an economy that was shrinking by 6 percent is now growing. Over the last four months we’ve seen the largest drop in unemployment since 1984. (Applause.) Over the last year we’ve added nearly 2 million jobs to the private sector. (Applause.)
Some of those things that folks said wouldn’t work, they work. (Applause.) Remember, we were about to see the U.S. auto industry liquidate. Now, GM has hired back all its workers and the Big Three are making a profit again. (Applause.) But we’ve still got work to do.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Oh, yes, we do. (Laughter and applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: (Laughter.) We do. She’s just -- she’s just speaking the truth. We still got work to do. When I decided to run -- and some of you were on this journey three years ago, four years ago, when folks couldn’t pronounce my name. (Laughter.) What we understood was that even before the recession, folks all across the country were feeling that that American Dream was starting to slip out of their grasp.
I look out and one of the things I love about coming to New York is, it is so representative of what America has always been -- people coming from all corners of the world. (Applause.) Immigrants, people traveling in search of opportunity, and saying to themselves, you know, if I work hard, if I take care of my responsibilities, if I pour all that blood, sweat and tears into a future for my children and grandchildren, there’s nothing they can’t achieve. That’s the idea of America. That’s the idea of New York City.
And all across this country, there are people who still believe in that. They’re working so hard every day. They’re looking after their families. They’re looking after their communities. They’re in their churches and synagogues and mosques. They’re volunteering. They’re mentoring. They’re coaching Little League. And yet they’ve been feeling even before the recession hit that maybe this American Dream, this idea of America was starting to slip away.
They had seen 10 years in which the average income, average wage of Americans had fallen; a country that was becoming more unequal; a country where even if you worked hard you might not be able to retire with the kind of security that you used to expect; a country where the cost of college tuition was skyrocketing; where getting sick might mean that you lose everything you had.
And so we understood America was at a crossroads and that we were going to have to make some serious changes to ensure that the kind of America we believed in was going to be there in the future. That’s what we were fighting for -- where every child in America can live that life of opportunity; where every family feels like that dream is theirs. It’s an idea of America where we’re looking out for one another, where folks who are poor or disabled or infirm or in their golden years, that they know they’ve got a community.
We believe in free markets. We believe in entrepreneurship. We believe in personal responsibility and self-help, but we also believe that we’re a family. (Applause.) And we also believe in an America that's growing, and the next generation does better than this one, more prosperous than it was before. And that prosperity is shared. It’s not just for a few, but it’s for everybody. (Applause.) That's the summit we wanted to reach.
And, look, for all the things we’ve gotten done, we’re not there yet. My biggest adversaries aren’t my political opponents. My biggest adversary is the cynicism that can be so corrosive when people stop believing in this idea of America. And what we’ve always been about is understanding that there’s nothing we can’t achieve if we’re working together. (Applause.) And it’s going to take a couple more years to get there. It might take more than one term to get there. (Applause.) But I’m reminded every night when I read letters from families all across America that we have no choice but to get there.
Some of you know that I read 10 letters a night out of the 40,000 or so that we get. And these letters are inspiring, but they are also sometimes heartbreaking. You read a letter from a father who’s sent out 20, 30, 40 resumes and hasn’t gotten a response back; or a child writes and says, my parents are about to lose their home, is there something that you can do? You hear from parents of those who’ve fallen in Afghanistan, or you hear about a young person who is not sure whether they're going to be able to afford to go to college -- and you’re reminded of why we did this, the commitment we made to each other.
Those are the Americans I’m thinking about every day when I wake up. I think about them when I go to bed at night. They are the reason you elected me President. You didn’t elect me so that I’d have a fancy title or a nice place to live. My house in Chicago was just fine. (Laughter.) You elected me to make a real difference in the lives of people across this country, to make sure they were getting a fair shot.
And we’ve been able to make great progress over the last few years. But that progress shouldn’t make us complacent. It should remind us that change is possible. And it should inspire us to finish what we started.
Because of you, we were able to prevent a second Great Depression. But in the next few years, we’ve got to make sure that the new jobs and industries of our time are started right here in the United States of America. In the next few years, we have to make sure that America is prepared to win the future.
Because of you, we ended wasteful taxpayer subsidies that were going to banks and instead used those savings to provide millions of students more affordable student loans and grants. (Applause.)
Because of you, we’ve raised standards for teaching and learning in schools across the country through what we call Race to the Top. (Applause.) But now we’ve got to finish reform and make sure every child is graduating and ready for college and ready for a career, and that we’re prepared to out-educate and out-compete every other nation in the world. That’s how America will succeed. (Applause.)
Because of you, we made the largest investment in clean energy in our history. (Applause.) And that’s already changing how jobs and businesses across the country are thinking about energy. We’re creating new businesses, advanced battery manufacturing, and plants building wind turbines and solar panels. But at a time when gas prices are --
AUDIENCE MEMBER: $4.00. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: -- just killing folks -- tough. A lot of truth tellers here. (Laughter.)
We’ve got a lot more work to do to have an energy policy that works. We’re going to have to keep on making those investments. And by the way, we can afford them. You know, for $4 billion, we could do an awful lot. And you know where we could get $4 billion is by ending taxpayer subsidies we give to oil companies and gas companies. (Applause.) That’s profits coming from your pocket into their pocket. They’re making enough profit. We should be investing in the energy of the future, not yesterday’s energy.
Because of you, we’ve put hundreds of thousands of people back to work rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, our roads, our bridges. You know, part of America has always been building stuff, having the best stuff -- trains and roads and ports and airports; and now in the 21st century, high-speed rail and the best wireless and the best broadband, to make sure that we’re pulling this economy together.
But you know what, we’ve fallen behind. Today South Korea has faster high-speed Internet than we do. We created the Internet. (Laughter.) We should be leading. We shouldn’t be second or third or fifth or 16th place when it comes to technology, innovation, investing in basic science and research.
Because of you, we did what we said we were going to do -- what we tried to do for almost a century -- and that is we said health care should no longer be a privilege, it should be a right in a country this wealthy. (Applause.) We said you should never go bankrupt because you get sick. (Applause.) Your child should be able to get health care even if they’ve got a preexisting condition. That’s because of you. (Applause.)
Because of you, we passed Wall Street reform that makes sure that the financial system doesn’t go through what it went through again and, along the way, that you as a consumer aren’t getting cheated when it comes to applying for a credit card or a mortgage. (Applause.)
Because of you, we passed laws that make sure that an equal day’s pay is an equal day’s work. Because I don’t want Sasha and Malia being treated second-class. (Applause.) That’s one of the reasons we put two women on the Supreme Court. (Applause.)
Because of you, we overturned “don't ask, don't tell,” because we want everybody to be able to serve their country, regardless of who they love. (Applause.)
Because of you, we removed 100,000 troops from Iraq, like we said we were going to do. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Thank you!
THE PRESIDENT: That's because of you. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: And you! (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Now we’ve got to protect the changes we’ve made. And we’ve got to keep on moving forward to get done the things we didn’t get done. We’ve still got to get comprehensive immigration reform passed, because we can be a nation of law and a nation of immigrants. (Applause.)
We need to finally break the cycle of one energy crisis after another, and start getting on the path of real -- (applause) -- a real energy policy that frees ourselves from dependence on foreign oil and cleans up the planet in the process. (Applause.) We’ve got to leave America better than we found it, and we’re not done yet.
So, New York, that's what this debate that we’re having in Washington right now is about. Folks talk about budgets and numbers and deficits and debt. And deficits and debt are serious, and we’ve got to do something about it. But this is also a debate about values. (Applause.) This is also a debate about what kind of country we believe in.
Yes, we believe in a government that lives within its means. And I just want to remind people that when I walked into office, we had a trillion-dollar deficit. (Applause.) And some of the same folks who are now talking about deficits voted for two wars that weren’t paid for, tax cuts that weren’t paid for -- (applause) -- a prescription drug policy that was not paid for, but that’s somehow all forgotten now. (Laughter.) A little amnesia there.
But now this is our responsibility. We’ve got to be serious about cutting spending in Washington. We’ve got to make cuts in domestic spending, but we also have to make cuts in defense spending. (Applause.) We also have to make cuts in all the loopholes in our tax code. Those also have to be cut. (Applause.)
We’ve got to eliminate every dime of waste, and if we’re serious about taking responsibility for the debt that we owe, then we’re going to have to make some tough decisions. We’ve got to decide what we can afford to do without.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Guantanamo!
THE PRESIDENT: Case in point. And we’ve got to make sure that the burdens and the sacrifices of getting a handle on our debt and our deficit, that they’re shared. But we also have to remind ourselves of the kind of America that we believe in, the kind of America that allowed us to live out our American Dream.
We’re not going to pull up the ladder behind us. I’m not going to reduce our deficit by sacrificing the things that always made up great as a people. (Applause.) I’m not going to sacrifice investments in education. I’m not going to make scholarships harder to get and more expensive for young people. I’m not going to sacrifice the safety of our highways or our airports. I’m not going to sacrifice clean air and clean water. (Applause.) I’m not going to sacrifice clean energy at a time when we need to free ourselves from dependence on foreign oil, and folks are getting killed at the pump. I’m not going to sacrifice America’s future. (Applause.)
There’s more than one way to mortgage America’s future. We mortgage that future if we don’t get a handle on our deficit and debt, but we also mortgage it if we’re not investing in those things that will assure the promise of the American Dream for the next generation.
And so part of this budget debate has to be about ending tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans in this country. (Applause.) I say that -- (applause) -- look, I say that not because I want to punish success. It’s because if we’re going to ask all Americans to sacrifice a little bit, we can’t just say to millionaires and billionaires, you guys go ahead, don't worry about it. (Laughter.) Just keep on counting your money. (Laughter.)
I’m talking about myself. Look, I don't want a $200,000 tax cut that's paid for by asking 33 seniors each to pay $6,000 more in Medicare costs. I don't want that. (Applause.) I don't want a tax cut that's paid for by slashing Head Start slots for young people here in New York City -- (applause) -- or eliminating health insurance for millions of people currently on Medicaid, seniors in nursing homes and poor kids and families with children with autism or other disabilities. That's not a tradeoff I’m willing to make. (Applause.) That's not a tradeoff most Americans are willing to make. That's not who we are. We are better than that. That's what this debate is about. (Applause.) We’re better than that. (Applause.)
What makes America great isn’t just our skyscrapers. It’s not our military might. It’s not the size of our GDP. All those things are things that we are rightly proud of. But at our core, what makes us great is our character. We are individualists. We believe in free markets. We are entrepreneurs. We believe that each of us is endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights and liberties. We don’t like folks telling us what to do. (Laughter.) That’s part of what makes us American.
But what also makes us American is the idea that we’re all in this together, that I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper, and that when I look out for somebody else I’m not doing it out of charity. If I’m driving through Harlem and I see a well-constructed school and young people that I know are being taught what they need to learn, my life is better. (Applause.) I know I’ll be safer, and I know that as a country we’ll be aligned. We’ll be moving together forward hand-in-hand, and this country will be less divided. My life will be better.
If I’m driving by Central Park and I see an elderly couple strolling, holding hand-in-hand, and I think to myself someday Michelle and me, we’re going to be strolling hand-in-hand. (Applause.) And I’ll be able to take a walk in Central Park again, and nobody will recognize me. (Laughter and applause.) But it makes me to feel good to know that that couple, they’ve got Social Security, they’ve got Medicare, that they’ve got a sense of dignity and security in their golden years. (Applause.)
It’s not charity -- it makes my life better. No man is an island. We’re not here by ourselves. That’s our vision of America. It’s not a vision of a small America. It’s a vision of a big America that is compassionate and generous and bold and optimistic.
I don’t want a cramped idea of America. I don’t want an idea of America that says, “no, we can’t” -- and we can’t afford to look after folks who need help, and we can’t afford to make sure that the ladders of opportunity are available for the next generation, and our seniors have to fend for ourselves, and we can’t afford to rebuild our infrastructure, and we can’t afford to invest in science and basic research. That’s not the America I know.
I want a confident America where, yes, everybody makes sacrifices, but nobody bears all the burden, and we live up to the idea that no matter who we are, no matter what we look like, no matter whether our ancestors landed on Ellis Island or came here on a slave ship or crossed the Rio Grande, we are all connected to one another. We rise and fall together. (Applause.)
That’s the idea at the heart of America. That’s the idea at the heart of America. That’s the idea at the heart of our campaign. That’s why I’m running again. That’s why I need your help more than ever. We are still at the early stages, but we’ve got to get out of the gate strong. (Applause.)
I know there are times where some of you felt frustrated, where we haven’t gotten everything done that we wanted to get done. I know you guys. (Laughter.) Why did health care take so long? And we didn’t get our public option -- (laughter) -- you know, it’s like, you know, what are we doing about this energy thing? It’s not happening fast enough. And, look, small business -- you know. (Laughter.)
I know all of you -- I’ve got a couple thousand political consultants here. (Laughter.) And sometimes -- how come Obama is not communicating properly? And it’s like we’re -- and their narrative, and we have to -- you know, I see your comments. (Laughter.) And you look wistfully at the poster -- (laughter) -- remember that day in Iowa? (Laughter.) I know. (Laughter.) Then your friends come and talk to you and, oh, Obama has changed. (Laughter.)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: I love you, Mr. President! (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: But what I’m saying -- we know this wasn’t going to be easy, though. A journey like this one, we knew there were going to be setbacks and detours and times when we stumbled. People act like -- sometimes I read folks talking about, wow, his campaign was so brilliant and so smooth. These people weren’t on the campaign. (Laughter.) I remember us screwing up all the time during the campaign. (Laughter.)
But as is true in the campaign, so has it been true for America -- that each and every juncture in our history, when our future was on the line, when we hit that fork in the road, we came together. We solved our problems. We transformed ourselves from an agricultural economy to an industrial economy to an information economy. We absorbed new waves of immigrants. We made sure that we finally eradicated the stain of slavery, and made sure that women were full participants in our democracy. (Applause.) We managed to move forward not as Republicans or Democrats, but as Americans; as one people, and as one nation.
So when you hear people saying, well, our problems are insoluble, when you confront the cynicism of others or sometimes your own, I just want you to think about all the progress we’ve already made. (Applause.) I want you to think about all of the business that we’ve got ahead of us. I want you to remember those words that summed up what we’ve been about, and the commitment we made to each other: Yes, we can. (Applause.)
Thank you, everybody. God bless you. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.)
END
10:24 P.M. EDT
For Immediate Release
Location:
The Town Hall New York, New York
9:49 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, New York! Thank you. How is everybody doing tonight? (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you. All right, everybody -- everybody, have a seat, have a seat. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you, New York. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Everybody, have a seat. Have a seat, have a seat. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you.
Are you fired up? Is that what you’re saying? (Applause.) I’m fired up, too. My name is Barack Obama. (Applause.) I was born in Hawaii. (Applause.) The 50th state of the United States of America. (Applause.) No one checked my ID on the way in. (Laughter.) But just in case -- (laughter.)
I was out in Chicago earlier today. I was taping Oprah for one of her last shows. I was a little disappointed, though -- when I looked under my seat, there was nothing there. (Laughter.)
AUDIENCE MEMBERS: (Inaudible.)
AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: See, there’s always something going on in New York City. (Laughter and applause.) Always.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you!
THE PRESIDENT: I love you back. (Applause.)
So it is good to get out of D.C. D.C. is a wonderful town, but the conversation you hear in Washington is just a little different than you usually hear around the kitchen table or around the water cooler.
And that's why we recently decided that our reelection campaign will be the first one in modern history to be based outside of Washington, D.C. We’re going back to Chicago -- (applause) -- because I don't want a campaign where I’m just hearing from lobbyists and pundits and powerbrokers. I want our campaign to be hearing from the people who helped me to get to the Oval Office. I want to be hearing from you. (Applause.)
We’re making sure we’re putting the campaign in your hands -- the same organizers, the same volunteers, the same people who proved that we could do --
AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, okay, thank you. All right, so let me just say -- no, they can stay. I think they made their point. They’re all right. That's all right. But if any of the rest of you have something to say -- (laughter) -- let’s just knock it out right now. (Laughter and applause.)
All right, where was I? (Laughter.) I was talking about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. (Applause.) And by the way, I just want you to know that Jim Messina, who has been by my side since this campaign began, he is going to do a great job. He is going to be doing a great job on our behalf. We’re very proud of him.
Which reminds me, by the way, I know the reason you guys are all fired up, is because the Roots were playing. (Laughter.) So give the Roots a big round of applause. (Applause.)
So that's what this campaign is still about. It’s your campaign. It’s not my campaign, it’s your campaign.
Now, a few things have changed since 2008. I’m a little grayer. (Laughter.)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Looking good!
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Laughter.) Thank you. (Applause.) Michelle thinks so also. (Laughter.) You know, I’ve got a few dents, a few dings in the fender. But all of us can still remember that night in Grant Park -- the excitement, the sense of possibility. And I hope you also remember what I said back then. I said, this wasn’t the end, this was the beginning; that our climb was going to be steep to the summit where we wanted to get to.
Now, it turns out the climb was a little steeper than we expected. (Laughter.) We took office during the worst recession since the Great Depression, one that left millions of Americans without jobs, hundreds of thousands of people without homes. It was a recession that was so bad that we still see the lingering effects, people still grappling with the aftershocks.
So we had to make some tough decisions, and some of those decisions weren’t always popular. But two and a half years later, an economy that was shrinking by 6 percent is now growing. Over the last four months we’ve seen the largest drop in unemployment since 1984. (Applause.) Over the last year we’ve added nearly 2 million jobs to the private sector. (Applause.)
Some of those things that folks said wouldn’t work, they work. (Applause.) Remember, we were about to see the U.S. auto industry liquidate. Now, GM has hired back all its workers and the Big Three are making a profit again. (Applause.) But we’ve still got work to do.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Oh, yes, we do. (Laughter and applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: (Laughter.) We do. She’s just -- she’s just speaking the truth. We still got work to do. When I decided to run -- and some of you were on this journey three years ago, four years ago, when folks couldn’t pronounce my name. (Laughter.) What we understood was that even before the recession, folks all across the country were feeling that that American Dream was starting to slip out of their grasp.
I look out and one of the things I love about coming to New York is, it is so representative of what America has always been -- people coming from all corners of the world. (Applause.) Immigrants, people traveling in search of opportunity, and saying to themselves, you know, if I work hard, if I take care of my responsibilities, if I pour all that blood, sweat and tears into a future for my children and grandchildren, there’s nothing they can’t achieve. That’s the idea of America. That’s the idea of New York City.
And all across this country, there are people who still believe in that. They’re working so hard every day. They’re looking after their families. They’re looking after their communities. They’re in their churches and synagogues and mosques. They’re volunteering. They’re mentoring. They’re coaching Little League. And yet they’ve been feeling even before the recession hit that maybe this American Dream, this idea of America was starting to slip away.
They had seen 10 years in which the average income, average wage of Americans had fallen; a country that was becoming more unequal; a country where even if you worked hard you might not be able to retire with the kind of security that you used to expect; a country where the cost of college tuition was skyrocketing; where getting sick might mean that you lose everything you had.
And so we understood America was at a crossroads and that we were going to have to make some serious changes to ensure that the kind of America we believed in was going to be there in the future. That’s what we were fighting for -- where every child in America can live that life of opportunity; where every family feels like that dream is theirs. It’s an idea of America where we’re looking out for one another, where folks who are poor or disabled or infirm or in their golden years, that they know they’ve got a community.
We believe in free markets. We believe in entrepreneurship. We believe in personal responsibility and self-help, but we also believe that we’re a family. (Applause.) And we also believe in an America that's growing, and the next generation does better than this one, more prosperous than it was before. And that prosperity is shared. It’s not just for a few, but it’s for everybody. (Applause.) That's the summit we wanted to reach.
And, look, for all the things we’ve gotten done, we’re not there yet. My biggest adversaries aren’t my political opponents. My biggest adversary is the cynicism that can be so corrosive when people stop believing in this idea of America. And what we’ve always been about is understanding that there’s nothing we can’t achieve if we’re working together. (Applause.) And it’s going to take a couple more years to get there. It might take more than one term to get there. (Applause.) But I’m reminded every night when I read letters from families all across America that we have no choice but to get there.
Some of you know that I read 10 letters a night out of the 40,000 or so that we get. And these letters are inspiring, but they are also sometimes heartbreaking. You read a letter from a father who’s sent out 20, 30, 40 resumes and hasn’t gotten a response back; or a child writes and says, my parents are about to lose their home, is there something that you can do? You hear from parents of those who’ve fallen in Afghanistan, or you hear about a young person who is not sure whether they're going to be able to afford to go to college -- and you’re reminded of why we did this, the commitment we made to each other.
Those are the Americans I’m thinking about every day when I wake up. I think about them when I go to bed at night. They are the reason you elected me President. You didn’t elect me so that I’d have a fancy title or a nice place to live. My house in Chicago was just fine. (Laughter.) You elected me to make a real difference in the lives of people across this country, to make sure they were getting a fair shot.
And we’ve been able to make great progress over the last few years. But that progress shouldn’t make us complacent. It should remind us that change is possible. And it should inspire us to finish what we started.
Because of you, we were able to prevent a second Great Depression. But in the next few years, we’ve got to make sure that the new jobs and industries of our time are started right here in the United States of America. In the next few years, we have to make sure that America is prepared to win the future.
Because of you, we ended wasteful taxpayer subsidies that were going to banks and instead used those savings to provide millions of students more affordable student loans and grants. (Applause.)
Because of you, we’ve raised standards for teaching and learning in schools across the country through what we call Race to the Top. (Applause.) But now we’ve got to finish reform and make sure every child is graduating and ready for college and ready for a career, and that we’re prepared to out-educate and out-compete every other nation in the world. That’s how America will succeed. (Applause.)
Because of you, we made the largest investment in clean energy in our history. (Applause.) And that’s already changing how jobs and businesses across the country are thinking about energy. We’re creating new businesses, advanced battery manufacturing, and plants building wind turbines and solar panels. But at a time when gas prices are --
AUDIENCE MEMBER: $4.00. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: -- just killing folks -- tough. A lot of truth tellers here. (Laughter.)
We’ve got a lot more work to do to have an energy policy that works. We’re going to have to keep on making those investments. And by the way, we can afford them. You know, for $4 billion, we could do an awful lot. And you know where we could get $4 billion is by ending taxpayer subsidies we give to oil companies and gas companies. (Applause.) That’s profits coming from your pocket into their pocket. They’re making enough profit. We should be investing in the energy of the future, not yesterday’s energy.
Because of you, we’ve put hundreds of thousands of people back to work rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, our roads, our bridges. You know, part of America has always been building stuff, having the best stuff -- trains and roads and ports and airports; and now in the 21st century, high-speed rail and the best wireless and the best broadband, to make sure that we’re pulling this economy together.
But you know what, we’ve fallen behind. Today South Korea has faster high-speed Internet than we do. We created the Internet. (Laughter.) We should be leading. We shouldn’t be second or third or fifth or 16th place when it comes to technology, innovation, investing in basic science and research.
Because of you, we did what we said we were going to do -- what we tried to do for almost a century -- and that is we said health care should no longer be a privilege, it should be a right in a country this wealthy. (Applause.) We said you should never go bankrupt because you get sick. (Applause.) Your child should be able to get health care even if they’ve got a preexisting condition. That’s because of you. (Applause.)
Because of you, we passed Wall Street reform that makes sure that the financial system doesn’t go through what it went through again and, along the way, that you as a consumer aren’t getting cheated when it comes to applying for a credit card or a mortgage. (Applause.)
Because of you, we passed laws that make sure that an equal day’s pay is an equal day’s work. Because I don’t want Sasha and Malia being treated second-class. (Applause.) That’s one of the reasons we put two women on the Supreme Court. (Applause.)
Because of you, we overturned “don't ask, don't tell,” because we want everybody to be able to serve their country, regardless of who they love. (Applause.)
Because of you, we removed 100,000 troops from Iraq, like we said we were going to do. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Thank you!
THE PRESIDENT: That's because of you. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: And you! (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Now we’ve got to protect the changes we’ve made. And we’ve got to keep on moving forward to get done the things we didn’t get done. We’ve still got to get comprehensive immigration reform passed, because we can be a nation of law and a nation of immigrants. (Applause.)
We need to finally break the cycle of one energy crisis after another, and start getting on the path of real -- (applause) -- a real energy policy that frees ourselves from dependence on foreign oil and cleans up the planet in the process. (Applause.) We’ve got to leave America better than we found it, and we’re not done yet.
So, New York, that's what this debate that we’re having in Washington right now is about. Folks talk about budgets and numbers and deficits and debt. And deficits and debt are serious, and we’ve got to do something about it. But this is also a debate about values. (Applause.) This is also a debate about what kind of country we believe in.
Yes, we believe in a government that lives within its means. And I just want to remind people that when I walked into office, we had a trillion-dollar deficit. (Applause.) And some of the same folks who are now talking about deficits voted for two wars that weren’t paid for, tax cuts that weren’t paid for -- (applause) -- a prescription drug policy that was not paid for, but that’s somehow all forgotten now. (Laughter.) A little amnesia there.
But now this is our responsibility. We’ve got to be serious about cutting spending in Washington. We’ve got to make cuts in domestic spending, but we also have to make cuts in defense spending. (Applause.) We also have to make cuts in all the loopholes in our tax code. Those also have to be cut. (Applause.)
We’ve got to eliminate every dime of waste, and if we’re serious about taking responsibility for the debt that we owe, then we’re going to have to make some tough decisions. We’ve got to decide what we can afford to do without.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Guantanamo!
THE PRESIDENT: Case in point. And we’ve got to make sure that the burdens and the sacrifices of getting a handle on our debt and our deficit, that they’re shared. But we also have to remind ourselves of the kind of America that we believe in, the kind of America that allowed us to live out our American Dream.
We’re not going to pull up the ladder behind us. I’m not going to reduce our deficit by sacrificing the things that always made up great as a people. (Applause.) I’m not going to sacrifice investments in education. I’m not going to make scholarships harder to get and more expensive for young people. I’m not going to sacrifice the safety of our highways or our airports. I’m not going to sacrifice clean air and clean water. (Applause.) I’m not going to sacrifice clean energy at a time when we need to free ourselves from dependence on foreign oil, and folks are getting killed at the pump. I’m not going to sacrifice America’s future. (Applause.)
There’s more than one way to mortgage America’s future. We mortgage that future if we don’t get a handle on our deficit and debt, but we also mortgage it if we’re not investing in those things that will assure the promise of the American Dream for the next generation.
And so part of this budget debate has to be about ending tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans in this country. (Applause.) I say that -- (applause) -- look, I say that not because I want to punish success. It’s because if we’re going to ask all Americans to sacrifice a little bit, we can’t just say to millionaires and billionaires, you guys go ahead, don't worry about it. (Laughter.) Just keep on counting your money. (Laughter.)
I’m talking about myself. Look, I don't want a $200,000 tax cut that's paid for by asking 33 seniors each to pay $6,000 more in Medicare costs. I don't want that. (Applause.) I don't want a tax cut that's paid for by slashing Head Start slots for young people here in New York City -- (applause) -- or eliminating health insurance for millions of people currently on Medicaid, seniors in nursing homes and poor kids and families with children with autism or other disabilities. That's not a tradeoff I’m willing to make. (Applause.) That's not a tradeoff most Americans are willing to make. That's not who we are. We are better than that. That's what this debate is about. (Applause.) We’re better than that. (Applause.)
What makes America great isn’t just our skyscrapers. It’s not our military might. It’s not the size of our GDP. All those things are things that we are rightly proud of. But at our core, what makes us great is our character. We are individualists. We believe in free markets. We are entrepreneurs. We believe that each of us is endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights and liberties. We don’t like folks telling us what to do. (Laughter.) That’s part of what makes us American.
But what also makes us American is the idea that we’re all in this together, that I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper, and that when I look out for somebody else I’m not doing it out of charity. If I’m driving through Harlem and I see a well-constructed school and young people that I know are being taught what they need to learn, my life is better. (Applause.) I know I’ll be safer, and I know that as a country we’ll be aligned. We’ll be moving together forward hand-in-hand, and this country will be less divided. My life will be better.
If I’m driving by Central Park and I see an elderly couple strolling, holding hand-in-hand, and I think to myself someday Michelle and me, we’re going to be strolling hand-in-hand. (Applause.) And I’ll be able to take a walk in Central Park again, and nobody will recognize me. (Laughter and applause.) But it makes me to feel good to know that that couple, they’ve got Social Security, they’ve got Medicare, that they’ve got a sense of dignity and security in their golden years. (Applause.)
It’s not charity -- it makes my life better. No man is an island. We’re not here by ourselves. That’s our vision of America. It’s not a vision of a small America. It’s a vision of a big America that is compassionate and generous and bold and optimistic.
I don’t want a cramped idea of America. I don’t want an idea of America that says, “no, we can’t” -- and we can’t afford to look after folks who need help, and we can’t afford to make sure that the ladders of opportunity are available for the next generation, and our seniors have to fend for ourselves, and we can’t afford to rebuild our infrastructure, and we can’t afford to invest in science and basic research. That’s not the America I know.
I want a confident America where, yes, everybody makes sacrifices, but nobody bears all the burden, and we live up to the idea that no matter who we are, no matter what we look like, no matter whether our ancestors landed on Ellis Island or came here on a slave ship or crossed the Rio Grande, we are all connected to one another. We rise and fall together. (Applause.)
That’s the idea at the heart of America. That’s the idea at the heart of America. That’s the idea at the heart of our campaign. That’s why I’m running again. That’s why I need your help more than ever. We are still at the early stages, but we’ve got to get out of the gate strong. (Applause.)
I know there are times where some of you felt frustrated, where we haven’t gotten everything done that we wanted to get done. I know you guys. (Laughter.) Why did health care take so long? And we didn’t get our public option -- (laughter) -- you know, it’s like, you know, what are we doing about this energy thing? It’s not happening fast enough. And, look, small business -- you know. (Laughter.)
I know all of you -- I’ve got a couple thousand political consultants here. (Laughter.) And sometimes -- how come Obama is not communicating properly? And it’s like we’re -- and their narrative, and we have to -- you know, I see your comments. (Laughter.) And you look wistfully at the poster -- (laughter) -- remember that day in Iowa? (Laughter.) I know. (Laughter.) Then your friends come and talk to you and, oh, Obama has changed. (Laughter.)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: I love you, Mr. President! (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: But what I’m saying -- we know this wasn’t going to be easy, though. A journey like this one, we knew there were going to be setbacks and detours and times when we stumbled. People act like -- sometimes I read folks talking about, wow, his campaign was so brilliant and so smooth. These people weren’t on the campaign. (Laughter.) I remember us screwing up all the time during the campaign. (Laughter.)
But as is true in the campaign, so has it been true for America -- that each and every juncture in our history, when our future was on the line, when we hit that fork in the road, we came together. We solved our problems. We transformed ourselves from an agricultural economy to an industrial economy to an information economy. We absorbed new waves of immigrants. We made sure that we finally eradicated the stain of slavery, and made sure that women were full participants in our democracy. (Applause.) We managed to move forward not as Republicans or Democrats, but as Americans; as one people, and as one nation.
So when you hear people saying, well, our problems are insoluble, when you confront the cynicism of others or sometimes your own, I just want you to think about all the progress we’ve already made. (Applause.) I want you to think about all of the business that we’ve got ahead of us. I want you to remember those words that summed up what we’ve been about, and the commitment we made to each other: Yes, we can. (Applause.)
Thank you, everybody. God bless you. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.)
END
10:24 P.M. EDT
washington bureaucrats John Kerry George Will George Bush global warming
Remarks by the President at a DNC Event
Release Time:
For Immediate Release
Soundstage 30 at Sony Studios
Culver City, California
April 21, 2011
7:18 P.M. PDT
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, L.A.! Hello, Los Angeles! (Applause.) It is good to be back in L.A. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you!
THE PRESIDENT: Love you back. (Applause.) It’s an honor to be here at Sony Studios Stage 30. (Applause.) For those of you who thought you were being brought in here as extras for the new Spider-Man movie -- (laughter) -- you’re at the wrong soundstage. (Laughter.) I hope you’ll stick around anyway.
We have some wonderful folks here, and I am so grateful for everybody and what they did to participate in this wonderful event. But I just want to acknowledge a few folks. We’ve got a great congressional delegation coming out. Congressman Brad Sherman is here. (Applause.) Congresswoman Laura Richardson is here. (Applause.) Congresswoman Karen Bass is here. (Applause.) Controller John Chiang is here. (Applause.) All the elected officials, the community leaders. There are too many to mention, but I am grateful for all of you.
Now, I’m assuming that Jamie Foxx didn’t say anything too crazy while he was on. Because if he did, I’ll talk to him when I get backstage.
AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
THE PRESIDENT: Well, actually, technically it’s about five and a half. (Applause.) That’s our goal.
Now, it is nice to be out of D.C. The weather in D.C. is okay, but the conversation that you hear in Washington is very different from the conversation that you hear around kitchen tables and around water coolers. And that’s why we recently decided that our reelection campaign will be the first one in modern history to be based outside of Washington, D.C. (Applause.) We’re going back to Chicago. (Applause.) I should add, by the way, that the Bulls just won. (Laughter.) So maybe we’ll see you in the finals. I know the Bulls will be there.
But, look, here’s the reason that we’re going to be based outside of Washington. I don’t want our campaign to be hearing only from pundits and powerbrokers and lobbyists. I want our campaign to be hearing from the folks who got me into the Oval Office. (Applause.) I want them hearing from you. I want to make sure we are putting the campaign in your hands -- the hands of the same organizers, the same volunteers, the same neighborhood folks, who proved last time that, together, ordinary people can do extraordinary things. (Applause.) That’s what this campaign is still about. I’m glad you’re in. I hope you’re all in. (Applause.)
Now, a few things have changed since the last time around. I’m grayer. (Laughter.) I’m all right? All right, I’m going to let Michelle know you said it’s okay. (Laughter.) See, folks here in Hollywood, they can go gray and they just say, well, that was just for a part and then they rinse. (Laughter.) I can’t do that. But even though some things have changed, all of us can still remember that night in Grant Park -- (applause) -- the excitement on the streets, the sense of possibility. And I hope you also remember what I said to you that night. I said our work hadn’t ended; we were just beginning. And that --
AUDIENCE MEMBER: I love you, President Obama.
THE PRESIDENT: I love you, too, sweetie. (Laughter.) But what I said was that our climb would be steep. We would have a tough road ahead. I said we might not get there in one year; we might not even get there in one term. But I knew in my heart that together we would get there; that we would bring about the change that we had promised -- promised, by the way, to each other. Because the campaign wasn’t just about me, the campaign was you making commitments to each other about the kind of country that you wanted. (Applause.) You made a commitment to each other about the kind of future that we wanted for our children and our grandchildren.
Now, it turns out -- let’s face it, the climb was a little steeper than we anticipated. (Laughter.) I ended up taking office in the middle of the worst recession since the Great Depression. Four million people had lost their jobs before I was sworn in; another 4 million lost their jobs in the first few months before our economic plan had a chance to take effect. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs -- millions of people lost their jobs, hundreds of thousands lost their homes.
It was a recession so bad that families all across America are still grappling with it. Some folks in this audience may still be dealing with the after-effects. So we had to make some tough decisions, and we had to make them very quickly. And they weren’t always popular.
But two and a half years later, the economy is growing again. (Applause.) Two and a half years later, we’re creating jobs again. (Applause.) Two and a half years later, the financial system works again. (Applause.) Two and a half years later, small businesses are opening their doors again. (Applause.)
Over the last four months, we’ve seen the largest drop in unemployment since 1984. (Applause.) Over the last 13 months we have created nearly 2 million private sector jobs. (Applause.) Some of the things that weren’t popular that folks said wouldn’t work have worked. We have a Big Three auto industry in Detroit that is back on its feet, making a profit again. (Applause.) GM announced it’s hiring all its workers back. (Applause.)
So we’ve made progress, but our work is not finished. We’re still climbing. We’re still climbing because the summit we want to reach is a summit where every child in America has opportunity. (Applause.) The summit we want to reach is where we’re looking out for each other if we’re disabled or infirm or in our golden years. (Applause.) The summit we want to reach is where America is more competitive than ever before; where our economy is growing and everybody is sharing in the prosperity. That’s the summit we want to reach. (Applause.)
And it’s going to take more than a couple of years. It’s going to take, in fact, more than one term. (Applause.) I am reminded of that almost every night, because every night I get letters from citizens all across the country. And some of these letters are heartbreaking. You read a letter about someone who’s sent out 16 resumes and hasn’t gotten a response back. Or a child writes you a letter and says, you know, my mommy and daddy, they’re losing their home -- is there something that you can do to help us?
And sometimes I’ll stay up late just trying to figure out what is it that we haven’t tried yet; what is it that we need to do to make sure that we’re reaching every single one of those folks who are working so hard, doing the right thing, looking after their families, meeting their responsibilities, and are still -- still struggling out there. That’s the reason that we ran. It wasn’t for the title. It wasn’t for the trappings of office. It was making sure we were delivering for those families all across America.
And our work is not done. But even though those are the Americans that I’m thinking about when I wake up in the morning and those are the Americans I’m thinking about when I go to bed at night, I want everybody to understand that we have made progress. (Applause.) Because of you, we have made progress. (Applause.)
That progress shouldn’t make us complacent, but it should remind us of what is possible and it should inspire us to try to finish what we started in 2008.
Because of you we were able to prevent a second Great Depression. (Applause.) Because of you we know that we’ve got the chance of making sure that the new jobs, the new industries aren’t located somewhere else, but they’re located here in California; they’re located here in the United States of America. (Applause.)
We’ve got to be prepared to win the future. Because of you we’ve made college more affordable for millions of young people all across America. (Applause.) It used to be that the student loan program run through the government would give billions of dollars to banks, unwarranted subsidies for acting as middlemen in the student loan program. We said, well, let’s end that. Let’s give the money directly to students. (Applause.) And as a consequence millions of more students are able to benefit from a better deal.
We’re not done yet, but we’ve started to reform some of the schools that needed reforming all across America. And because of our Race to the Top program, we’re seeing better teachers in our classrooms, and we are seeing more support for our teachers and more resources for our teachers. And we are making sure that we’re reaching into the schools that are underperforming here in Los Angeles and all across the country. Because of you we’ve been able to accomplish that. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: We need your leadership.
THE PRESIDENT: I’m ready to give it, but I’m going to need yours as well. (Applause.) Because of you we made the largest investment in clean energy, in renewable energy in our history. (Applause.) Investments that are already creating new jobs and new businesses.
But at a time of high gas prices -- I know you’ve noticed.
AUDIENCE: Yes!
THE PRESIDENT: It’s rough out there. I admit, Secret Service doesn’t let me fill up the pump anymore. (Laughter.) But it hasn’t been that long since I did. You think about folks -- and certainly here in Los Angeles, everybody understands this experience -- if you’ve got to drive 50 miles for your job, and you can’t afford the new hybrid, so you got that old beater giving you eight miles a gallon -- (laughter) -- and your budget is already strained, I mean, that’s tough. But let me tell you something, we’re already making a difference.
We have increased oil production, but more importantly we’ve also said to ourselves how are we going to find the kinds of alternative energy sources, the new energy sources that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil but also clean up the planet in the process. That’s something we need to invest in. (Applause.)
Because of you we used to only have 2 percent of the world’s advanced battery manufacturing in this country, a whole new industry. These are the batteries that go into these new electric cars. In five years, we’re going to have 40 percent of that market. That’s because of you, because you were able to get us in a position to make those decisions. (Applause.)
Because of you we’ve increased fuel-efficiency standards on cars that will save 1.8 billion barrels of oil. (Applause.) But we’ve got to do more. And to help pay for it, I don’t know about you but I think it’s time we eliminated the $4 billion in taxpayer subsidies that we’re giving to oil companies. (Applause.)
Now, they are making -- keep in mind that the top five oil companies over the last five years, their lowest profits were $75 billion; their highest profits were $125 billion. That’s money coming directly from your pocket into theirs.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: And we feel it.
THE PRESIDENT: And you feel it. Now, companies make big investments. They’re allowed to make a profit. But let me tell you, for them to get a $4 billion tax break at a time when they’re making record profits, and you’re struggling to fill up your tank does not make sense. It has to stop. (Applause.) Let’s stop subsidizing the energy sources of yesterday, and let’s invest in the energy sources of tomorrow. That’s what we’re going to do because of you. (Applause.)
Because of you we’ve put hundreds of thousands of folks back to work rebuilding our roads and our bridges and our infrastructure. Now we’ve got to make sure America is not just rebuilding and repairing the old infrastructure. We’ve got to be building the new infrastructure -- the high-speed rail, the high-speed Internet, the smart grid that could help electricity move around in more efficient ways. (Applause.) That’s part of what America has always been about.
We’ve had -- I mean, I hate to be parochial here, but we’ve had the best stuff. (Laughter.) But you know what, in some areas we don’t. South Korea now has faster high-speed Internet than we do. You go to a Beijing airport or Singapore airport -- I mean, LAX -- (laughter) -- I’m just saying. It does not have to be that way. We can put Americans to work right now doing the work that needs to be done, but I’m going to need your help doing it, because our job is not yet finished. (Applause.)
Because of you we did what folks have talked about for 100 years. We said health care should no longer be a privilege in this country. It should be affordable and available to every single American. (Applause.) We said in America you shouldn’t go broke just because you got sick. (Applause.) But we’ve got more work to do. We’re implementing it now, and many of you are already benefiting from the changes we made, but there are some folks who want to dismantle it. We’re going to have to protect it.
Because of you we passed Wall Street reform to make sure that we don’t have the same kinds of bailouts that we had before, to make sure the consumers are protected and not cheated when you take out a mortgage or a credit card. But there are some folks who want to roll that back. We’ve got to protect it.
Because of you we passed a law that says women should get an equal day’s pay for an equal day’s work. (Applause.)
Because of you we overturned “don’t ask, don’t tell,” so everybody could serve their country. (Applause.)
Because of you we got two more women on the Supreme Court, one of them the first Latina. (Applause.)
And because of you we removed 100,000 troops from Iraq and we have ended combat missions there just like I promised. That happened because of you. (Applause.)
But now we’ve got to protect the changes that we’ve made. We’ve got to -- we got some more changes we’ve got to make. We still got to pass comprehensive immigration reform -- (applause) -- so that we are a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. We still got to have a more comprehensive energy policy. We’ve got to keep moving forward. We have to keep working for the America that we believe in -- the America we want to leave to our children.
And that is the debate that we’re having in Washington right now. That’s what this budget debate is all about. You hear people talking about debt and deficits and spending and budgets. And, yes, this is about numbers, but this debate is really about the kind of future that we want. It’s about what kind of country we believe in. I believe in a country where the government lives within its means. We’ve got to cut spending in Washington. (Applause.) We’ve got to cut domestic spending. We’ve got to cut defense spending. (Applause.) We’ve got to cut health care inflation. We got to cut spending in our tax code -- because we spend a lot through our tax code with loopholes and tricks. We’ve got to eliminate every dime of waste. And if we want to take responsibility for the debt that we owe then we’re going to have to make some tough decisions.
We’ve got to decide what we can do without to make sure we maintain those things that we care deeply about. And that requires shared sacrifice.
But let me tell you what I won’t do. I will not reduce our deficit by sacrificing the things that have always made America great. (Applause.) The things that have made Americans prosper. I will not sacrifice our investment in education. (Applause.) I won’t sacrifice scholarships for our students or medical research for our scientists. (Applause.) I won’t sacrifice the safety of our highways or our airports. I will not sacrifice our investment in clean energy at a time when our dependence on foreign oil is causing Americans so much pain at the pump. I won’t sacrifice clean air and clean water. I will not sacrifice America’s future. (Applause.)
We need shared sacrifice, and that means as part of our overall approach, ending tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans in this country. (Applause.) Let me tell you something. This is important. You know, look, a lot of folks right now, somehow they’ve gotten the idea that we’ve raised taxes. I have lowered everybody’s taxes since I came into office. That’s part of what the Recovery Act was all about -- 30 percent of it were tax cuts. Folks might not have noticed it. (Laughter.) It got spread out over all your paychecks. But those were tax cuts. And then this December we cut some taxes. Your payroll tax got cut because we wanted to make sure that we kept on going with the recovery.
So nobody here is just loving taxes. I just paid my taxes. (Laughter.) And it was a pretty big tax bill. (Laughter.) But I want everybody to understand it’s not that I want to punish success. I want everybody here to be rich. I think somebody may have fainted here. This happens. They’ll be fine. Give them some room. If we can get some medics in the front. Probably what they need is just a little bit of air, maybe a little bit of juice. They’ll be okay. We’ll get the medics up here in a second.
But in the meantime, look, I want all of you to be rich. (Applause.) Now, I don’t mean just going out and buying lottery tickets. (Laughter.) I want your small business to be successful. I want you to succeed in your careers. I want everybody to be successful. We don’t want to punish success. But what we do want is a society where if we’re going to ask everybody to sacrifice a little bit, we don’t just tell millionaires and billionaires, oh, you don’t have to do anything. You go ahead and just relax, count your money. (Laughter.)
Look, I don’t want a $200,000 tax cut for me that’s paid for by asking 33 seniors each to pay more than $6,000 in extra Medicare costs. (Applause.) I don’t want my tax cut paid for by cutting children from Head Start, or doing away with health insurance for millions of people on Medicaid, for seniors in nursing homes, or poor children, or families that have a disabled child. (Applause.) I don’t want to make that trade-off. (Applause.)
And that’s not a trade-off that I think most Americans want to see, no matter what party you belong to, because that’s not who we are as a country. We’re better than that. (Applause.)
The America we know is great not just because of the height of our skyscrapers, not just because of the size of our GDP. It comes because we’ve been able to keep two ideas together at the same time. The first is, is that we’re all individuals endowed with certain inalienable rights and freedoms. We are self-reliant. We don’t expect others to do for us what we can do for ourselves, and we don’t like other people telling us what to do. That’s part of what it’s like to be an American. (Applause.)
But the second idea is that we’re all in this together, that we look out for one another, that I am my brother’s keeper, that I am my sister’s keeper, that I want that child born in a tough neighborhood to have the same opportunities that I had so that someday they may be standing here instead of me. (Applause.)
And so, given the blessings that I’ve received, I want to look out for them, not out of charity but it’s because my life benefits from knowing when I’m driving down the street, look at that school that’s well funded and those kids that are learning. (Applause.) And I see an elderly couple strolling down the street and I say to myself, look at those folks, they’re secure and they’re comfortable in their retirement. (Applause.) And I see that person in a wheelchair going to work because somebody gave them opportunity, and I say, that’s how we make sure that everybody can use their talents. (Applause.)
That makes my life better. That makes my life richer -- knowing that everybody has a measure of dignity and respect, and a shot at the American Dream. (Applause.) I don’t do that for somebody else. I do it because it improves my life and it’s going to improve Malia’s life and Sasha’s life. (Applause.)
That’s our vision for America. It’s not a vision of a small America; it’s a vision of a big America. We do big things. A vision of a compassionate America and a caring America. An ambitious America. When I look at some of the debate in Washington and what some folks are saying, I say, they have a pessimistic view of who we are. Their basic attitude is we can’t afford to look out for kids in poor neighborhoods. We can’t afford to invest in our infrastructure. Yes, we’re going to be driving around potholes and our airports are going to be mangy and -- (laughter). There’s nothing we can do about it. We can’t afford to make sure all of our seniors have the health care that they need.
That’s not my vision for America. That’s not your vision for America. (Applause.) My vision is for one where we’re living within our means but we’re still investing in our future, and everybody is making sacrifices and nobody bears all the burden, and we live up to the idea that no matter what you look like or where you come from, whether you landed here -- your ancestors landed here on Ellis Island or they came here on a slave ship, or they just came over the Rio Grande, that we are all connected to one another and we all rise and fall together. (Applause.)
Los Angeles, that’s the idea at the heart of America. That’s the idea at the heart of our last campaign. That’s the idea at the heart of this campaign. And that’s why I’m going to need your help now more than ever. (Applause.) This campaign is at its early stages, but now is the time you can step up and help shape it, and make sure we’re out of the gate strong. And I know there are times where some of you felt frustrated because we haven’t gotten everything we wanted to get done right away. I know who you all are. (Laughter.) I know the conversations you’ve been having. Oh, I don’t know, I don’t like that compromise with the Republicans. I don’t know, that health care thing, why did it take so long? I don’t know -- Obama, he’s older now. (Laughter.) He used to look so fresh and exciting and -- I still got that poster, but I don’t know.
Look, there are times where I’ve been frustrated, just like you have been. But we knew this wasn’t going to be easy. What also amuses me is when I hear people say, oh, well, the campaign was so smooth -- why is governing so tough? (Laughter.) And I try to remind them -- what campaign were you on? (Laughter.) What campaign were you on? It felt awful hard to me. (Laughter.) I thought we made all kinds of mistakes.
We knew that on a journey like this there were going to be setbacks, there were going to be detours. There were going to be times where we stumbled and we had to get up and dust ourselves off and then keep going. Because we knew that at each and every juncture in our history, when the future was on the line, when we were at the crossroads like we are right now, the country somehow came together. The country somehow found a way to make ourselves more prosperous and deal with the transition from an agricultural economy to an industrial economy, and then to an information economy.
And we figured out how to absorb new immigrants and finally deal with the stain of slavery; make sure that women were full participants in our democracy. (Applause.)
At every juncture, we’ve been able to make the changes that we needed. So when you hear people say our problems are too big or we can’t bring about the changes we seek, I want you to think about all the progress we’ve already made, and I want you to think about all the unfinished business that lies ahead. I want you to be excited about the next 18 months, and then the next four years after that. (Applause.) And I want you to remind everybody else those simple words that summed up our campaign in 2008 and still sum up our spirit: Yes, we can!
Thank you, everybody. God bless you. (Applause.)
END
7:51 P.M. EDT
For Immediate Release
Soundstage 30 at Sony Studios
Culver City, California
April 21, 2011
7:18 P.M. PDT
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, L.A.! Hello, Los Angeles! (Applause.) It is good to be back in L.A. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you!
THE PRESIDENT: Love you back. (Applause.) It’s an honor to be here at Sony Studios Stage 30. (Applause.) For those of you who thought you were being brought in here as extras for the new Spider-Man movie -- (laughter) -- you’re at the wrong soundstage. (Laughter.) I hope you’ll stick around anyway.
We have some wonderful folks here, and I am so grateful for everybody and what they did to participate in this wonderful event. But I just want to acknowledge a few folks. We’ve got a great congressional delegation coming out. Congressman Brad Sherman is here. (Applause.) Congresswoman Laura Richardson is here. (Applause.) Congresswoman Karen Bass is here. (Applause.) Controller John Chiang is here. (Applause.) All the elected officials, the community leaders. There are too many to mention, but I am grateful for all of you.
Now, I’m assuming that Jamie Foxx didn’t say anything too crazy while he was on. Because if he did, I’ll talk to him when I get backstage.
AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
THE PRESIDENT: Well, actually, technically it’s about five and a half. (Applause.) That’s our goal.
Now, it is nice to be out of D.C. The weather in D.C. is okay, but the conversation that you hear in Washington is very different from the conversation that you hear around kitchen tables and around water coolers. And that’s why we recently decided that our reelection campaign will be the first one in modern history to be based outside of Washington, D.C. (Applause.) We’re going back to Chicago. (Applause.) I should add, by the way, that the Bulls just won. (Laughter.) So maybe we’ll see you in the finals. I know the Bulls will be there.
But, look, here’s the reason that we’re going to be based outside of Washington. I don’t want our campaign to be hearing only from pundits and powerbrokers and lobbyists. I want our campaign to be hearing from the folks who got me into the Oval Office. (Applause.) I want them hearing from you. I want to make sure we are putting the campaign in your hands -- the hands of the same organizers, the same volunteers, the same neighborhood folks, who proved last time that, together, ordinary people can do extraordinary things. (Applause.) That’s what this campaign is still about. I’m glad you’re in. I hope you’re all in. (Applause.)
Now, a few things have changed since the last time around. I’m grayer. (Laughter.) I’m all right? All right, I’m going to let Michelle know you said it’s okay. (Laughter.) See, folks here in Hollywood, they can go gray and they just say, well, that was just for a part and then they rinse. (Laughter.) I can’t do that. But even though some things have changed, all of us can still remember that night in Grant Park -- (applause) -- the excitement on the streets, the sense of possibility. And I hope you also remember what I said to you that night. I said our work hadn’t ended; we were just beginning. And that --
AUDIENCE MEMBER: I love you, President Obama.
THE PRESIDENT: I love you, too, sweetie. (Laughter.) But what I said was that our climb would be steep. We would have a tough road ahead. I said we might not get there in one year; we might not even get there in one term. But I knew in my heart that together we would get there; that we would bring about the change that we had promised -- promised, by the way, to each other. Because the campaign wasn’t just about me, the campaign was you making commitments to each other about the kind of country that you wanted. (Applause.) You made a commitment to each other about the kind of future that we wanted for our children and our grandchildren.
Now, it turns out -- let’s face it, the climb was a little steeper than we anticipated. (Laughter.) I ended up taking office in the middle of the worst recession since the Great Depression. Four million people had lost their jobs before I was sworn in; another 4 million lost their jobs in the first few months before our economic plan had a chance to take effect. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs -- millions of people lost their jobs, hundreds of thousands lost their homes.
It was a recession so bad that families all across America are still grappling with it. Some folks in this audience may still be dealing with the after-effects. So we had to make some tough decisions, and we had to make them very quickly. And they weren’t always popular.
But two and a half years later, the economy is growing again. (Applause.) Two and a half years later, we’re creating jobs again. (Applause.) Two and a half years later, the financial system works again. (Applause.) Two and a half years later, small businesses are opening their doors again. (Applause.)
Over the last four months, we’ve seen the largest drop in unemployment since 1984. (Applause.) Over the last 13 months we have created nearly 2 million private sector jobs. (Applause.) Some of the things that weren’t popular that folks said wouldn’t work have worked. We have a Big Three auto industry in Detroit that is back on its feet, making a profit again. (Applause.) GM announced it’s hiring all its workers back. (Applause.)
So we’ve made progress, but our work is not finished. We’re still climbing. We’re still climbing because the summit we want to reach is a summit where every child in America has opportunity. (Applause.) The summit we want to reach is where we’re looking out for each other if we’re disabled or infirm or in our golden years. (Applause.) The summit we want to reach is where America is more competitive than ever before; where our economy is growing and everybody is sharing in the prosperity. That’s the summit we want to reach. (Applause.)
And it’s going to take more than a couple of years. It’s going to take, in fact, more than one term. (Applause.) I am reminded of that almost every night, because every night I get letters from citizens all across the country. And some of these letters are heartbreaking. You read a letter about someone who’s sent out 16 resumes and hasn’t gotten a response back. Or a child writes you a letter and says, you know, my mommy and daddy, they’re losing their home -- is there something that you can do to help us?
And sometimes I’ll stay up late just trying to figure out what is it that we haven’t tried yet; what is it that we need to do to make sure that we’re reaching every single one of those folks who are working so hard, doing the right thing, looking after their families, meeting their responsibilities, and are still -- still struggling out there. That’s the reason that we ran. It wasn’t for the title. It wasn’t for the trappings of office. It was making sure we were delivering for those families all across America.
And our work is not done. But even though those are the Americans that I’m thinking about when I wake up in the morning and those are the Americans I’m thinking about when I go to bed at night, I want everybody to understand that we have made progress. (Applause.) Because of you, we have made progress. (Applause.)
That progress shouldn’t make us complacent, but it should remind us of what is possible and it should inspire us to try to finish what we started in 2008.
Because of you we were able to prevent a second Great Depression. (Applause.) Because of you we know that we’ve got the chance of making sure that the new jobs, the new industries aren’t located somewhere else, but they’re located here in California; they’re located here in the United States of America. (Applause.)
We’ve got to be prepared to win the future. Because of you we’ve made college more affordable for millions of young people all across America. (Applause.) It used to be that the student loan program run through the government would give billions of dollars to banks, unwarranted subsidies for acting as middlemen in the student loan program. We said, well, let’s end that. Let’s give the money directly to students. (Applause.) And as a consequence millions of more students are able to benefit from a better deal.
We’re not done yet, but we’ve started to reform some of the schools that needed reforming all across America. And because of our Race to the Top program, we’re seeing better teachers in our classrooms, and we are seeing more support for our teachers and more resources for our teachers. And we are making sure that we’re reaching into the schools that are underperforming here in Los Angeles and all across the country. Because of you we’ve been able to accomplish that. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: We need your leadership.
THE PRESIDENT: I’m ready to give it, but I’m going to need yours as well. (Applause.) Because of you we made the largest investment in clean energy, in renewable energy in our history. (Applause.) Investments that are already creating new jobs and new businesses.
But at a time of high gas prices -- I know you’ve noticed.
AUDIENCE: Yes!
THE PRESIDENT: It’s rough out there. I admit, Secret Service doesn’t let me fill up the pump anymore. (Laughter.) But it hasn’t been that long since I did. You think about folks -- and certainly here in Los Angeles, everybody understands this experience -- if you’ve got to drive 50 miles for your job, and you can’t afford the new hybrid, so you got that old beater giving you eight miles a gallon -- (laughter) -- and your budget is already strained, I mean, that’s tough. But let me tell you something, we’re already making a difference.
We have increased oil production, but more importantly we’ve also said to ourselves how are we going to find the kinds of alternative energy sources, the new energy sources that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil but also clean up the planet in the process. That’s something we need to invest in. (Applause.)
Because of you we used to only have 2 percent of the world’s advanced battery manufacturing in this country, a whole new industry. These are the batteries that go into these new electric cars. In five years, we’re going to have 40 percent of that market. That’s because of you, because you were able to get us in a position to make those decisions. (Applause.)
Because of you we’ve increased fuel-efficiency standards on cars that will save 1.8 billion barrels of oil. (Applause.) But we’ve got to do more. And to help pay for it, I don’t know about you but I think it’s time we eliminated the $4 billion in taxpayer subsidies that we’re giving to oil companies. (Applause.)
Now, they are making -- keep in mind that the top five oil companies over the last five years, their lowest profits were $75 billion; their highest profits were $125 billion. That’s money coming directly from your pocket into theirs.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: And we feel it.
THE PRESIDENT: And you feel it. Now, companies make big investments. They’re allowed to make a profit. But let me tell you, for them to get a $4 billion tax break at a time when they’re making record profits, and you’re struggling to fill up your tank does not make sense. It has to stop. (Applause.) Let’s stop subsidizing the energy sources of yesterday, and let’s invest in the energy sources of tomorrow. That’s what we’re going to do because of you. (Applause.)
Because of you we’ve put hundreds of thousands of folks back to work rebuilding our roads and our bridges and our infrastructure. Now we’ve got to make sure America is not just rebuilding and repairing the old infrastructure. We’ve got to be building the new infrastructure -- the high-speed rail, the high-speed Internet, the smart grid that could help electricity move around in more efficient ways. (Applause.) That’s part of what America has always been about.
We’ve had -- I mean, I hate to be parochial here, but we’ve had the best stuff. (Laughter.) But you know what, in some areas we don’t. South Korea now has faster high-speed Internet than we do. You go to a Beijing airport or Singapore airport -- I mean, LAX -- (laughter) -- I’m just saying. It does not have to be that way. We can put Americans to work right now doing the work that needs to be done, but I’m going to need your help doing it, because our job is not yet finished. (Applause.)
Because of you we did what folks have talked about for 100 years. We said health care should no longer be a privilege in this country. It should be affordable and available to every single American. (Applause.) We said in America you shouldn’t go broke just because you got sick. (Applause.) But we’ve got more work to do. We’re implementing it now, and many of you are already benefiting from the changes we made, but there are some folks who want to dismantle it. We’re going to have to protect it.
Because of you we passed Wall Street reform to make sure that we don’t have the same kinds of bailouts that we had before, to make sure the consumers are protected and not cheated when you take out a mortgage or a credit card. But there are some folks who want to roll that back. We’ve got to protect it.
Because of you we passed a law that says women should get an equal day’s pay for an equal day’s work. (Applause.)
Because of you we overturned “don’t ask, don’t tell,” so everybody could serve their country. (Applause.)
Because of you we got two more women on the Supreme Court, one of them the first Latina. (Applause.)
And because of you we removed 100,000 troops from Iraq and we have ended combat missions there just like I promised. That happened because of you. (Applause.)
But now we’ve got to protect the changes that we’ve made. We’ve got to -- we got some more changes we’ve got to make. We still got to pass comprehensive immigration reform -- (applause) -- so that we are a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. We still got to have a more comprehensive energy policy. We’ve got to keep moving forward. We have to keep working for the America that we believe in -- the America we want to leave to our children.
And that is the debate that we’re having in Washington right now. That’s what this budget debate is all about. You hear people talking about debt and deficits and spending and budgets. And, yes, this is about numbers, but this debate is really about the kind of future that we want. It’s about what kind of country we believe in. I believe in a country where the government lives within its means. We’ve got to cut spending in Washington. (Applause.) We’ve got to cut domestic spending. We’ve got to cut defense spending. (Applause.) We’ve got to cut health care inflation. We got to cut spending in our tax code -- because we spend a lot through our tax code with loopholes and tricks. We’ve got to eliminate every dime of waste. And if we want to take responsibility for the debt that we owe then we’re going to have to make some tough decisions.
We’ve got to decide what we can do without to make sure we maintain those things that we care deeply about. And that requires shared sacrifice.
But let me tell you what I won’t do. I will not reduce our deficit by sacrificing the things that have always made America great. (Applause.) The things that have made Americans prosper. I will not sacrifice our investment in education. (Applause.) I won’t sacrifice scholarships for our students or medical research for our scientists. (Applause.) I won’t sacrifice the safety of our highways or our airports. I will not sacrifice our investment in clean energy at a time when our dependence on foreign oil is causing Americans so much pain at the pump. I won’t sacrifice clean air and clean water. I will not sacrifice America’s future. (Applause.)
We need shared sacrifice, and that means as part of our overall approach, ending tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans in this country. (Applause.) Let me tell you something. This is important. You know, look, a lot of folks right now, somehow they’ve gotten the idea that we’ve raised taxes. I have lowered everybody’s taxes since I came into office. That’s part of what the Recovery Act was all about -- 30 percent of it were tax cuts. Folks might not have noticed it. (Laughter.) It got spread out over all your paychecks. But those were tax cuts. And then this December we cut some taxes. Your payroll tax got cut because we wanted to make sure that we kept on going with the recovery.
So nobody here is just loving taxes. I just paid my taxes. (Laughter.) And it was a pretty big tax bill. (Laughter.) But I want everybody to understand it’s not that I want to punish success. I want everybody here to be rich. I think somebody may have fainted here. This happens. They’ll be fine. Give them some room. If we can get some medics in the front. Probably what they need is just a little bit of air, maybe a little bit of juice. They’ll be okay. We’ll get the medics up here in a second.
But in the meantime, look, I want all of you to be rich. (Applause.) Now, I don’t mean just going out and buying lottery tickets. (Laughter.) I want your small business to be successful. I want you to succeed in your careers. I want everybody to be successful. We don’t want to punish success. But what we do want is a society where if we’re going to ask everybody to sacrifice a little bit, we don’t just tell millionaires and billionaires, oh, you don’t have to do anything. You go ahead and just relax, count your money. (Laughter.)
Look, I don’t want a $200,000 tax cut for me that’s paid for by asking 33 seniors each to pay more than $6,000 in extra Medicare costs. (Applause.) I don’t want my tax cut paid for by cutting children from Head Start, or doing away with health insurance for millions of people on Medicaid, for seniors in nursing homes, or poor children, or families that have a disabled child. (Applause.) I don’t want to make that trade-off. (Applause.)
And that’s not a trade-off that I think most Americans want to see, no matter what party you belong to, because that’s not who we are as a country. We’re better than that. (Applause.)
The America we know is great not just because of the height of our skyscrapers, not just because of the size of our GDP. It comes because we’ve been able to keep two ideas together at the same time. The first is, is that we’re all individuals endowed with certain inalienable rights and freedoms. We are self-reliant. We don’t expect others to do for us what we can do for ourselves, and we don’t like other people telling us what to do. That’s part of what it’s like to be an American. (Applause.)
But the second idea is that we’re all in this together, that we look out for one another, that I am my brother’s keeper, that I am my sister’s keeper, that I want that child born in a tough neighborhood to have the same opportunities that I had so that someday they may be standing here instead of me. (Applause.)
And so, given the blessings that I’ve received, I want to look out for them, not out of charity but it’s because my life benefits from knowing when I’m driving down the street, look at that school that’s well funded and those kids that are learning. (Applause.) And I see an elderly couple strolling down the street and I say to myself, look at those folks, they’re secure and they’re comfortable in their retirement. (Applause.) And I see that person in a wheelchair going to work because somebody gave them opportunity, and I say, that’s how we make sure that everybody can use their talents. (Applause.)
That makes my life better. That makes my life richer -- knowing that everybody has a measure of dignity and respect, and a shot at the American Dream. (Applause.) I don’t do that for somebody else. I do it because it improves my life and it’s going to improve Malia’s life and Sasha’s life. (Applause.)
That’s our vision for America. It’s not a vision of a small America; it’s a vision of a big America. We do big things. A vision of a compassionate America and a caring America. An ambitious America. When I look at some of the debate in Washington and what some folks are saying, I say, they have a pessimistic view of who we are. Their basic attitude is we can’t afford to look out for kids in poor neighborhoods. We can’t afford to invest in our infrastructure. Yes, we’re going to be driving around potholes and our airports are going to be mangy and -- (laughter). There’s nothing we can do about it. We can’t afford to make sure all of our seniors have the health care that they need.
That’s not my vision for America. That’s not your vision for America. (Applause.) My vision is for one where we’re living within our means but we’re still investing in our future, and everybody is making sacrifices and nobody bears all the burden, and we live up to the idea that no matter what you look like or where you come from, whether you landed here -- your ancestors landed here on Ellis Island or they came here on a slave ship, or they just came over the Rio Grande, that we are all connected to one another and we all rise and fall together. (Applause.)
Los Angeles, that’s the idea at the heart of America. That’s the idea at the heart of our last campaign. That’s the idea at the heart of this campaign. And that’s why I’m going to need your help now more than ever. (Applause.) This campaign is at its early stages, but now is the time you can step up and help shape it, and make sure we’re out of the gate strong. And I know there are times where some of you felt frustrated because we haven’t gotten everything we wanted to get done right away. I know who you all are. (Laughter.) I know the conversations you’ve been having. Oh, I don’t know, I don’t like that compromise with the Republicans. I don’t know, that health care thing, why did it take so long? I don’t know -- Obama, he’s older now. (Laughter.) He used to look so fresh and exciting and -- I still got that poster, but I don’t know.
Look, there are times where I’ve been frustrated, just like you have been. But we knew this wasn’t going to be easy. What also amuses me is when I hear people say, oh, well, the campaign was so smooth -- why is governing so tough? (Laughter.) And I try to remind them -- what campaign were you on? (Laughter.) What campaign were you on? It felt awful hard to me. (Laughter.) I thought we made all kinds of mistakes.
We knew that on a journey like this there were going to be setbacks, there were going to be detours. There were going to be times where we stumbled and we had to get up and dust ourselves off and then keep going. Because we knew that at each and every juncture in our history, when the future was on the line, when we were at the crossroads like we are right now, the country somehow came together. The country somehow found a way to make ourselves more prosperous and deal with the transition from an agricultural economy to an industrial economy, and then to an information economy.
And we figured out how to absorb new immigrants and finally deal with the stain of slavery; make sure that women were full participants in our democracy. (Applause.)
At every juncture, we’ve been able to make the changes that we needed. So when you hear people say our problems are too big or we can’t bring about the changes we seek, I want you to think about all the progress we’ve already made, and I want you to think about all the unfinished business that lies ahead. I want you to be excited about the next 18 months, and then the next four years after that. (Applause.) And I want you to remind everybody else those simple words that summed up our campaign in 2008 and still sum up our spirit: Yes, we can!
Thank you, everybody. God bless you. (Applause.)
END
7:51 P.M. EDT
gubernatorial candidate Howard Dean ethics charges washington bureaucrats John Kerry
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)